Automatic impact detection after patch implementation with entry point finder

ABSTRACT

A computer-based method is disclosed for assessing impact of a patch on a target business-critical application computer system. The method includes receiving information at a computer-based impact assessment system about end-user activities on the target business-critical application computer system over a specified period of time; identifying, with a computer-based fixed objects identifier, one or more software objects in the target business-critical application computer system fixed by the patch; identifying, with a computer-based entry point finder, one or more entry points associated with the fixed software object(s) at the target business-critical application system; and cross-referencing the information about the end-user activities on the target business-critical application system against the one or more entry points associated with the fixed software object(s) at the target business-critical application system. The cross-referencing may reveal which of the entry points associated with the fixed software object(s) also have been used by the end-users of the target business-critical application system during the specified time period.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates to computer-based security and, moreparticularly, to a computer-based entry point finder (EPF) andassociated computer-implemented techniques and, even more particularly,to using the EPF for automatic impact detection after patchimplementation.

BACKGROUND

Security is of critical importance to modern companies, particularly forcompanies that have large, sophisticated computer systems such asenterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications and/or otherbusiness-critical software applications.

These computer systems can, of course, be or become susceptible tovarious vulnerabilities. Generally speaking, a vulnerability can beconsidered to be a flaw in a computer system that might allow anattacker somehow to compromise the computer system. The consequences ofsuch compromises can be severe, and can impact, for example,confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability of the attacked computersystem or aspects thereof. Computer system vulnerabilities can beexploited, for example, by executable programs, simple sets of commandsor instructions, etc. Once an exploit is available for a particularvulnerability, any computer system that has that particularvulnerability may be under threat.

From time to time, companies that produce ERP and otherbusiness-critical software applications (also referred to asbusiness-critical applications), for example, release patches to correctvarious flaws in those computer systems. Sometimes, implementing a patchcan create new vulnerabilities that may be difficult to predict oridentify, and, therefore, even more difficult to address.

As used herein, a “business-critical application” (BCA) generally refersto a crucial application to keeping a business running. These types ofapplications can vary from small tools to company-wide systems. Theseapplications can work on clients' services, be provided by thirdparties, or can be developed internally. Generally speaking, BCAs arecritical applications, where if interrupted, the interruption couldresult in financial losses, legal loses, negative publicity for thecompany, unhappy employees or customers, etc. A BCA may be totallydifferent in different companies or different industries; depending onwhich systems(s) could cause significant damage to a company if problemsoccur.

Managing system security and identifying/assessing vulnerabilitiesshould be an important part of every company's IT risk managementpolicy, even though it can be quite challenging, particularly forcomputer systems that experience a great deal of change over time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system, referred to herein as an “entry point finder” (“EPF”)—andassociated techniques—is disclosed that may, in certain implementations,produce a representation that might be graphical in nature of softwareobjects in a business-critical application computer system and therelationships, functional or otherwise, between those software objects.In a typical implementation, this may facilitate, for example,identifying possible entry points that an attacker might use tocompromise a business-critical application computer system, such as anenterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

At a high level, an entry point may be considered a software object orrelationship in a business-critical application computer system thatserves as a point (e.g., an initial point) in a particular set ofrelationships among software objects within the business-criticalapplication computer system. In some implementations, an entry point maybe a software object abstraction that can be executed by an end-user ofthe system. In a typical implementation, there may be many types ofsoftware objects loaded into an EPF, but only some of them are entrypoints (e.g., that can be executed by an end-user of the system).Moreover, in some implementations, the end-user may define or may havedefined, at least in part, which of the loaded software objects is anentry point.

In this regard, in a typical implementation, the EPF is configured toperform a computer-based method of analyzing a target business-criticalapplication computer system to find relationships among software objectsin (associated with) the target business-critical application computersystem. This method includes, for example, extracting software objectsfrom the business-critical application computer system, storing theextracted software objects in a search platform, finding relationshipsamong the software objects, and creating a database (e.g., a graph-styledatabase) to facilitate visualization and easy analysis of the softwareobjects and their respective relationships. In a typical implementation,some of the software objects that get extracted from the computer systemhave associated source code; however, some of the software objects thatget extracted from the computer system do not have associated sourcecode.

In a typical implementation, the software objects generally are orrepresent elements of the target business-critical application computersystem whose graphical representation as nodes connected to one anotherbased on relationships, functional or otherwise, between thecorresponding elements is desirable in view of a particular goal of theanalysis. Each respective one of the elements of the targetbusiness-critical application computer system may be a unique piece ofcode, a file, a data string, or other aspect of the targetbusiness-critical application computer system.

The method may also include producing a graphical display thatrepresents: each respective software object as a single node, and one ormore relationships between the software objects by one or moreconnectors (e.g., lines) between the nodes that correspond to therelated software objects.

In some implementations, extracting the software objects that includesource code may involve: querying the target computer system for namesof packages (groups of software objects) associated with the targetbusiness-critical application computer system, receiving a list ofpackage names associated with the target business-critical applicationcomputer system in response to the query, and storing the list ofpackage names in a first queue. In such implementations, extracting thesoftware objects that include the source code may further involveselecting one package name from the first queue, and extracting (with aparticular one of a plurality of extractors) the source code associatedwith the selected package name from the business-critical applicationcomputer system. The method may further include saving a compressedversion of the extracted source code at a first computer-based memorylocation, and pushing (or sending) the location of the stored compressedversion of the extracted source code to a second queue. The method mayfurther include saving a decompressed version of the extracted sourcecode at a second computer-based memory location; and pushing (orsending) the location of the stored decompressed version of theextracted source code to a third queue.

In some implementations, extracting the software objects that do notinclude source code may involve: pushing (or sending) the softwareobjects that do not include source code to queues, each of which is fora particular type of software object that does not include source code.

In some implementations, storing the extracted software objects in acomputer-based search platform may include reading, with one or moresearch platform uploaders, source code from a computer-based memorystorage (based on the location information in a queue), reading, withthe one or more search platform uploaders, non-source code-basedsoftware objects from one or more object queues, and storing what theone or more search platform uploaders read into the search platform withan intelligent structure.

In some implementations, finding the relationships between the extractedsoftware objects that are stored in the computer-based search platformincludes: for software objects that have source code—reading eachstatement of the source code; and determining whether any statements inthe source code define a relationship between any of the softwareobjects, and for software objects that do not have source code—executingone or more queries regarding possible relationships between any of thesoftware objects.

Creating a database that represents the extracted software objects andthe relationships between the extracted software objects may includecreating a graph (or graph-style) database to facilitate query andvisualization of the software objects of the business-criticalapplication computer system and their respective relationships to oneanother. The graph or graph-style database may define nodes andconnections between nodes respectively representing software objectsfrom the business-critical application computer system and relationshipsbetween software objects.

In another aspect, an entry point finder (EPF) includes a plurality ofworker modules, a plurality of queues (where each one of the queues iscommunicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more of the workermodules), a plurality of computer-based memory storage locations (whereeach one of the computer-based memory storage locations iscommunicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more of the workermodules), and a computer-based search platform (communicatively coupledto at least one of the worker modules).

In a typical implementation, the entry point finder is configured toextract, with one or more of the worker modules, a plurality of softwareobjects from a business-critical application computer system; store theextracted software objects in the computer-based search platform; findrelationships, with one or more of the worker modules, between theextracted software objects that are stored in the computer-based searchplatform; and create a database that represents the extracted objectsand the relationships between the extracted software objects.

There are a variety of ways that the EPF and the output it produces canbe advantageously utilized to help improve and manage security in theassociated business-critical application computer system. These include,for example, automatically detecting the impact of a particular patchafter implementation, automatically detecting unnecessaryaccesses/privileges among company employees, and/or facilitating theautomatic generation of vulnerability detection rules based onvulnerability primitives. Each of these is summarized, in turn, below.

Impact Detection after Patch Implementation

A computer-based method is disclosed for assessing impact of a patch ona target business-critical application computer system. The methodincludes: receiving information at a computer-based impact assessmentsystem about end-user activities on the target computer system over aspecified period of time; identifying, with a computer-based fixedobjects identifier, one or more software objects in the target computersystem fixed by the patch; identifying, with a computer-based entrypoint finder, one or more entry points associated with the fixedsoftware object(s) at the target system; and cross-referencing theinformation about the end-user activities on the target system againstthe one or more entry points associated with the fixed softwareobject(s) at the target system.

In some implementations, the cross-referencing identifies which of theentry points associated with the fixed software object(s) also have beenused by end-users of the target system during the specified time period.Moreover, in some implementations, the cross-referencing identifies: 1)a list of functions impacted by one or more associated vulnerabilitiesand that need to (or that should) be tested after the patch isimplemented, and/or 2) a list of end users that are actually using theimpacted functions and which processes the listed end users are actuallyinvolved in.

In some implementations, the computer-based method includes prompting orenabling a user to specify the period of time via a computer-based userinterface terminal.

The information about the end-user activities can include, for example,information about transactions started, reports started, successfulfunction calls, and HTTP requests through a web browser. Moreover, insome implementations, the information about the transactions started,the reports started, and the successful function calls may be obtainedfrom a security audit log for the target computer system, and theinformation about the HTTP requests may be obtained from an HTTP accesslog for the target computer system.

The computer-based fixed objects identifier may be configured to accessinformation about patches for the target computer system from acomputer-based database coupled to the computer-based fixed objectsidentifier and/or from a missing patches detector.

The computer-based entry point finder may include, for example, aplurality of worker modules, a plurality of queues (where each one ofthe queues is communicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more ofthe worker modules), a plurality of computer-based memory storagelocations (where each one of the computer-based memory storage locationsis communicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more of the workermodules), and a computer-based search platform communicatively coupledto at least one of the worker modules. In such implementations, thecomputer-based method may further include: extracting, with one or moreof the worker modules, a plurality of software objects from a computersystem, storing the extracted software objects in the computer-basedsearch platform, finding relationships (with one or more of the workermodules) between the extracted software objects that are stored in thecomputer-based search platform, and creating a database that representsthe extracted software objects and the relationships between theextracted software objects.

In yet another aspect, a computer-based impact assessment system isdisclosed for assessing impact of a patch on a target computer system.The computer-based impact assessment system may include, for example, auser activity extractor for extracting information from the targetcomputer system about end-user activities on the target computer systemover a specified period of time, a computer-based fixed objectsidentifier for identifying one or more software objects in the targetcomputer system fixed by the patch, a computer-based entry point finderfor identifying one or more entry points associated with the fixedsoftware object(s) at the target system, and a computer-based processorfor cross-referencing the information about the end-user activities onthe target system against the one or more entry points associated withthe fixed software object(s) at the target system.

Checking for Unnecessary Privileges

A computer-based method is disclosed for checking a target computersystem for unnecessary privileges. The method includes: receiving, at acomputer-based privileges checking system, a listing of all privilegesassigned to users in the target computer system; receiving, at thecomputer-based privileges checking system, information about end-useractivities on the target computer system over a specified period oftime; for each respective one of the end-user activities, querying acomputer-based entry point finder for any privileges that were checkedat the target system for that activity; and removing the privileges thatwere checked at the target system for the end-user activities from thelisting of all assigned privilege at the target system to produce alisting of unnecessary privileges at the target system. In a typicalimplementation, the computer-based method further includes eliminatingthe unnecessary privileges at the target system.

Certain implementations include prompting or enabling a user to specifythe period of time via a computer-based user interface terminal.

The information about the end-user activities may include, for example,information about transactions started, reports started, successfulfunction calls, and HTTP requests through a web browser. The informationabout the transactions started, the reports started, and the successfulfunction calls may be obtained, for example, from a security audit logfor the target system. The information about the HTTP requests may beobtained, for example, from an HTTP access log for the target system.

In some implementations, the computer-based method may includeextracting, with one or more worker modules of the entry point finder, aplurality of software objects from the target computer system; storingthe extracted software objects in a computer-based search platform;finding relationships, with one or more of the worker modules of theentry point finder, between the extracted software objects that arestored in the computer-based search platform; and creating a databasethat represents the extracted software objects and the relationshipsbetween the extracted software objects. The database may be a graphical(or graph-style) database that represents each extracted software objectas a node and each relationship between the extracted software objectsas a connector between the nodes. Some of the nodes may represent useractivities, wherein some of the nodes may represent privilege checks forthe user activities, and each respective one of the privilege checknodes may be connected to a corresponding one of the user activitynodes.

In yet another aspect, a computer-based system is disclosed foridentifying unnecessary privileges on a target computer system. Thecomputer-based system includes: a privileges extractor to extract alisting of all assigned privileges at the target computer system; a useractivity extractor to extract information about end-user activities onthe target computer system over a specified period of time; acomputer-based entry point finder to identify, for each respective oneof the extracted end-user activities, any privileges that were checkedat the target system for that activity; and a computer-based calculatorto remove the privileges that were checked at the target system for theextracted end-user activities during the specified period of time fromthe listing of all privileges assigned at the target system to produce alisting of unnecessary privileges at the target system.

Generating Rules for Detecting Security Vulnerabilities Based onVulnerability Primitives

A computer-based method is disclosed for generating rules to detectsecurity vulnerabilities in a target computer system based onvulnerability primitives. The method includes: running a computer-basedentry point finder at the target computer system so that the entry pointfinder can access and extract information about source code that isactually installed at the target computer system; creating, with thecomputer-based entry point finder, a graph (or graphical-style) databasethat represents software objects extracted from the target computersystem and relationships between the extracted software objects;identify a vulnerability primitive for a security vulnerability at thetarget computer system; and correlate the vulnerability primitiveagainst information in the graphical-style database to help identify anyrelationships between a software object that is identified by thevulnerability primitive as being vulnerable and one or more othersoftware objects in the target computer system.

In a typical implementation, the software object that is identified bythe vulnerability primitive is vulnerable, but undetectable or difficultto detect, and the one or more other entry point software objectsrelated to the vulnerability primitive software objects in the targetcomputer system are easier to detect software objects in the targetcomputer system.

Moreover, in a typical implementation, the security vulnerabilities arebugs or features of the target computer system that expose the targetcomputer system to possible attack, or flaws in the target computersystem's security, and the vulnerability primitive is a simple statementor indication that a particular software object is vulnerable.

The graph (or graphical-style) database may represent each extractedsoftware object as a node and each relationship between the extractedsoftware objects as a connector between nodes.

In some implementations, the computer-based method includes: extracting,with one or more worker modules of the entry point finder, a pluralityof software objects from the target computer system; storing theextracted software objects in a computer-based search platform; findingrelationships, with one or more of the worker modules of the entry pointfinder, between the extracted software objects that are stored in thecomputer-based search platform; and creating the graphical databasebased on the relationships found.

In certain implementations, the computer-based method includes:generating one or more detection rules for the security vulnerabilityrepresented by the vulnerability primitive based on the correlation. Thedetection rules may be rules used to detect attacks by an IDS/IPS/or anyother security detection system. One or more of the detection rules mayreference the one or more other software objects in the target computersystem identified through the correlation. In some such implementations,the computer-based method may further include taking corrective measuresto address the corresponding security vulnerability in response to oneor more of the detection rules being satisfied.

In yet another aspect, a computer-based system is disclosed forgenerating rules to detect security vulnerabilities in a target computersystem based on vulnerability primitives. The computer-based system mayinclude: a computer-based entry point finder running at the targetcomputer system and configured to create a graphical-style database thatrepresents software objects from the target computer system andrelationships between the extracted software objects based on sourcecode actually installed on the target computer system; a knowledge baseof vulnerability primitives defining one or more vulnerabilityprimitives for security vulnerabilities at the target computer system;and an affected entry point finder configured to correlate eachrespective one of the vulnerability primitives against information inthe graphical-style database to help identify any relationships betweena software object that is identified by the vulnerability primitive andone or more other software objects in the target computer system.

In some implementations, one or more of the following advantages arepresent.

For example, the systems and techniques disclosed herein areparticularly effective at analyzing computer systems (e.g., ones thatinclude ABAP code for an SAP system) in order to find entry points(e.g., objects that can be executed by end-users) that, at some point,might be utilized to execute a vulnerable object (e.g., one fixed by arecent security patch). This type of analysis typically requires only avery small period of time, particularly compared to more traditionalmanual search techniques. This time and efficiency benefit isparticularly noteworthy where the computer system at issue is a largeone (e.g., where the ABAP code of an SAP system, for example, whenextracted and decompressed to a separate location, might occupy atleast, 30 GB or even 100 GB of plain text files containing the code).

Additionally, having a map of relationships (e.g., in a graph database),one can easily trace the path from a vulnerability to an entry point,for example. As an extra advantage: the size of the information can beincredibly reduced. For example, in some implementations, approximately70 GB of source code can be reduced to approximately 30 MB of graphsinformation.

The EPF can be utilized or leveraged to help assess impact of a patch ona target computer system. This can facilitate efficient, yet robust,testing of a patched system to confirm that the system works as intendedand that the patch did not introduce any new problems into the system.The EPF can be utilized or leveraged to help identify unnecessary (e.g.,unused) privileges in a target computer system. Additionally, the EPFcan be utilized or leveraged to detect security vulnerabilities in atarget computer system based on vulnerability primitives.

Other features and advantages will be apparent from the description anddrawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a computer system with anexemplary computer-based entry point finder (“EPF”).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process performed by the EPFof FIG. 1 in the context of the overall computer system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 extracts objects (that have source code) from the computer systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 extracts objects (that do not have source code) from the computersystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 stores the extracted objects in a search platform.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 finds relationships between an object (that has no source code)and other objects.

FIG. 6B is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 finds relationships between an object (that has source code) andother objects.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process whereby the EPF ofFIG. 1 creates a graph database to facilitate visualization of thecomputer system.

Each one of FIGS. 8A-8H is a partial schematic representation of thecomputer system and/or EPF of FIG. 1 showing different interactionsbetween various components thereof.

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of an exemplary graph database withnodes and connectors that respectively represent objects andrelationships between objects from the computer system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of an exemplary impact assessmentsystem, in which an EPF is being applied to help automatically assessimpact of a particular patch after being implemented on a target system.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for assessing the impactof a patch on a target system.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of an exemplary system, in whichan EPF is being utilized, to facilitate automatic detection ofunnecessary accesses/privileges in the computer system among companyemployees.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an exemplary process of automaticallydetecting unnecessary accesses/privileges in a computer system amongcompany employees.

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an exemplary system, in whichan EPF is being utilized, for generating detection rules for securityvulnerabilities based on vulnerability primitives.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for generating detectionrules for security vulnerabilities based on vulnerability primitives.

Like reference numerals refer to like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system, referred to herein as an “entry point finder” (“EPF”), andassociated techniques are disclosed that may, in certainimplementations, enable easy identification of possible entry pointsthat an attacker might use to compromise a computer system, such as, forexample, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

In this regard, in a typical implementation, at a high level, the EPFextracts objects from the computer system, for example, from the sourcecode, a file, a data string, etc., stores the extracted objects in asearch platform, finds relationships among the objects, and creates agraph database to facilitate visualization and easy analysis and queryof the objects and their respective relationships. There are a varietyof ways that the EPF and its output can be advantageously utilized andleveraged to help understand an evolving computer system and to improveand help manage security in the computer system. For example, in someimplementations, EPF and its output can be advantageously utilized andleveraged to help automatically detect unnecessary accesses/privilegesamong company employees, automatically detect and understand the impactof a particular patch after implementation, and/or facilitate theautomatic generation of vulnerability detection rules based onvulnerability primitives.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a computer system 100, in thiscase being an ERP system, and, coupled to that computer system, variouscomponents that collectively form an entry point finder (EPF) 102 forthe ERP system 100.

According to the illustrated example, the EPF 102 has a plurality ofworker modules 104, a plurality of storage modules 106, and a queuerepository 108, with a plurality of queues. The ERP system 100 in theillustrated example interfaces with the EPF 102 via one or more of theworker modules 104, and the worker modules 104, queue repository 108,and storage modules 106 are communicatively coupled to each other asindicated.

The worker modules 104 in the illustrated implementation includemultiple components, including, a leader 110, one or more extractors112, one or more decompressors 114, one or more extractor Gs 116, one ormore SOLR uploaders 118, one or more SOLR downloaders 120, one or moreanalyzers 122, one or more graph preprocessors 124 and one or more CSVCreators 125. Of course, SOLR is just one possible database vendor. Thescope of this application is not limited to utilizing SOLR technologies.It is also noted that all of these components are not required, butinstead, are provided as a group for exemplary purposes.

The queue repository 108 in the illustrated implementation includesmultiple components, including, a packages queue 126, a CCode queue 128,a DCode queue 130, Object Type queues 132 (Type 1, Type 2, . . . TypeN), a PreACode queue 134, an NSCObject queue 136, an ACode queue 138, aCSVNodes queue 140, and a CSVRel queue 142. It is also noted that all ofthese components are not required, but instead, are provided as a groupfor exemplary purposes.

The storage modules 106 includes multiple component, including: a firststorage module (Storage I) 144, a second storage module (Storage II)146, a third storage module (Storage III) 148, a fourth storage module(Storage IV) 150, and a search platform 152 (SOLR). It is also notedthat all of these components are not required, but instead, are providedas a group for exemplary purposes.

A typical EPF 102 also would include or be connected to one or morecomputer-based user interface terminals (not shown in FIG. 1) thatenable users to access, leverage, and interact with the EPF 102 and itsassociated output.

The computer system 100 (and the other computer systems or the likereferred to herein) can be virtually any kind of computer system. Invarious implementations, the computer system 100 may be or include oneor more computer-based real-time applications (RTAs). Examples of suchRTAs include, but are not limited to, web servers, application servers,database servers, operating systems and/or business criticalapplications (BCAs), among others. Examples of BCAs include, but are notlimited to, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), Supply ChainManagement (SCM), Product Life-cycle Management (PLM), Human CapitalManagement (HCM), Integration Platforms, Business Warehouse(BW)/Business Intelligence (BI) and Integration applications developedby SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Siebel, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, etc. Forpurposes of discussion and clarity, much of the discussion containedherein will assume that the computer system is a computer systemprovided by the SAP® company, such as an ERP or other typebusiness-critical application software. It should be noted that acomputer system containing a business-critical application is alsoreferred to herein as a business-critical application computer system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that represents an exemplary high-level overviewof a process that the exemplary EPF 102 of FIG. 1 might perform.

In this regard, the illustrated process has the EPF 102 (at 202)extracting software objects from the computer system, and decompressing,if necessary. More particularly, in a typical implementation, the leadermodule 110 extracts these software objects.

An object may be thought of as an element in a computer system (e.g., apiece of source code, a software file, or some other software aspect ofwhich the computer system is comprised) whose graphical representationas a node among other nodes (each respective node representing acorresponding one of the objects), where the nodes are connected to oneanother based on relationships, functional or otherwise, between thecorresponding objects, will be desirable given a particular end goal forthe EPF analysis. Generally speaking, in many instances, an object doesnot relate to only a single line of code. Instead, an object wouldrelate to a more abstract element represented by multiple lines of codeor even a complete source code file. It should be noted that objects arealso referred to as software objects, herein.

The specific aspects of the computer system that get treated as objectsin this regard are generally context-dependent, which means that theoverall goal of a particular EPF analysis (e.g., detection ofunnecessary privileges, impact detection after patch implementation,etc.), and/or the specific configuration of the computer system beingexposed to the EPF analysis, for example, may influence which specificaspects of the computer system end up being treated as objects and whichdo not.

In a typical implementation, some of the objects will have source code(i.e., will represent or include one or more lines of source code) fromthe computer system, but some of the other objects may not have sourcecode. In a particular implementation, for example where the computersystem at issue is a business-critical application from the SAP®company, the objects that have source code may include one or more of:reports, functions, modules, includes, subroutines, methods, etc. Inthose kinds of implementations, the objects that do not have source codemay include one or more of: transaction codes, authorization objects,function groups, classes, tables, Internet Communication Framework (ICF)services, components, packages, etc.

Reports may be considered as programs that define a feature capable ofbeing executed by an end-user. Functions may refer to sub-programs thatcontain sets of reusable statements with importing and exportingparameters that can be executed independently. Modules may refer toprocessing blocks (e.g., with routines and/or subroutines) in a program.Includes may refer to programs that act as repositories that allow theuse of the same source code in different programs. Subroutines may referto reusable sections of code that are modularization units within aprogram where one or more functions are encapsulated in the form ofsource code. Methods may include procedures that are executed when amessage is received.

Transaction codes may be alphanumeric codes, for example, that can helpguide a user to a screen for a particular task to be performed.Authorization objects may be composed of groupings of fields, where thevalues in these fields are used in authorization checks. Function groupsmay be a container for function modules. Classes may be abstractdescriptions of objects. Tables may be arrays of information. ICFservices may store web services offered by the computer system.Components may define the attributes of certain ABAP objects. Packagesmay help developers, for example, modularize, encapsulate and decoupleunits in the computer system.

Generally speaking, some computer systems (e.g., computer systems fromthe SAP® company) may organize their source code into packages, or thelike. In general terms, packages (e.g., those available from the SAP®company) may be designed to help developers modularize, encapsulate,and/or decouple units in the computer system.

In some implementation, each respective source code-related object(i.e., object that has source code) that get extracted from the computersystem will relate to one and only one of the respective packages fromthe computer system. Of course, in some instances, a single package maycontain more than one object (in fact, some contain many objects). Forexample, a package called “Package1” might contain five differentobjects: 2 Reports, 2 Functions, and 1 Function group.

In some implementations, some (or all) of the objects may be compressedand/or encrypted when they are extracted from the computer system. Inthose implementations, additional processing (e.g., decompression and/ordecryption) may be required on the extracted source code, for example,to access the underlying plain text associated with the extracted sourcecode. In those types of implementations, the EPF 102 may include one ormore decompressors (shown in FIG. 1) and/or one or more decryptionengines (not shown in FIG. 1), as appropriate.

Generally speaking, the details of the process used to extract aparticular object may depend on whether that particular object hassource code or not.

FIG. 3 details an exemplary implementation of the EPF 102 extracting(202 a) objects that have source code from the computer system 100.

First, according to the illustrated implementation, the EPF 102 queries(at 302) the computer system 100 (e.g., from the SAP® company) for thenames of the packages associated with the computer system 100. Inresponse to this query, the leader 110 worker module (at 304) receives alist of package names associated with the computer system 100 and (at306) stores that list of package names in a first queue (i.e., thepackages queue 126) of the queue repository 108. These concepts arerepresented schematically in FIG. 8A. In the exemplary implementationrepresented in FIG. 8A, and elsewhere in this application, the queuerepository may be Redis™ queue repository software but, of course, otherqueue repository software may be used instead.

Next, according to the illustrated implementation, the EPF 102 (at 308)extracts the source code from the computer system 100. Moreparticularly, in this regard, after the EPF receives the list of packagenames (at 304), one or more of the extractors 112 start extracting thesource code from the computer system 100.

As the source code can be divided into packages, in a typicalimplementation, each one of the involved extractors 112 may select aparticular package name from the first queue (i.e., the packages queue126) and start to extract, from the computer system 100, all of theobjects associated with the source code from the package having theselected package name. Once all of the objects associated with thesource code having the selected package name have been selected, theextractor may select a different (previously unselected) package namefrom the packages queue and start to extract, from the computer system100, all of the objects associated with the source code from the packagehaving that different (previously unselected) package name. In a typicalimplementation, each specific extractor (from a plurality of extractors)will proceed in this manner—operating in parallel—until all of thepackages from the computer system have had their source code extracted.

According to the illustrated implementation, for each respective objectin a selected package, the extractor 112 (at 310) obtains the sourcecode, which may be compressed, saves (at 312) the compressed source codein a first computer-based memory (e.g., “storage I”) 144, and pushes (at314) the location of this stored compressed source code to the CCodequeue 128. Code in this example stands for “Compressed Code.” Theseconcepts are represented schematically in FIG. 8B. In a typicalimplementation, once an extractor 112 finishes extracting all of thesource code for a selected one of the packages, that extractor willselect another package name from the packages queue and essentiallyrepeat the steps outlined above. This process is generally repeateduntil all of the packages identified in the packages queue 128 have beenextracted.

One benefit of having source code that is already divided into packagesbefore extraction is that the extraction process can easily be performedin a distributed fashion (i.e., with multiple extractors 112 workingsimultaneously on different packages), which can help the system operatemore quickly and potentially with greater accuracy.

Next, according to the illustrated implementation, the compressed sourcecode that has been extracted from the computer system is decompressed(at 316). Decompression may be performed by one or more decompressors114. In some implementations, each time an extractor 112 finishesextracting the source code for a particular object (there is generallyno need to finish extracting all of the objects in a package beforeproceeding), one of the decompressors 114 learns of the location forthat package from the CCode queue 128, and obtains the compressed sourcecode for the corresponding object from the first computer-based memorystorage 144. The decompressor 114 then decompresses the source code forthat object and (at 318) stores the decompressed source code in a secondcomputer-based memory storage (e.g., “storage II” in FIG. 1) 146. Thelocation of the decompressed code for that object is then pushed (at320) to the DCode queue 130 in the queue repository 108. DCode standsfor Decompressed Code. This is represented schematically in FIG. 8C.

As previously mentioned, in a typical implementation, there are someobjects that do not have source code. FIG. 4 details an exemplaryprocess (202 b), performed by the EPF 102, for extracting non-sourcecode-based objects from the computer system 100. These kinds ofnon-source code-based objects, which may be referred to as Globals (orglobal objects), tend to be easier to extract than source-code basedobjects. Some of the non-source code-based objects may be related topackages and some of the non-source code-based objects may not berelated to packages.

According to the illustrated implementation, the non-source code-basedobjects are extracted (at 402) from the system 100 by the extractorG116. In this regard, the extractorG 116 extracts all global objects,and, as they do not have any source code to decompress, the extractedglobal objects may be pushed (at 404) directly into different objectqueues 132 (e.g., table object type queue, authorization object typequeue, transaction code object type, . . . object type N queue) in thequeue repository 108. Generally speaking, in order to effectivelyorganize this information, there is one queue for each type ofnon-source code-based object. This is represented schematically in FIG.8D.

Referring again to the flowchart of FIG. 2, after extracting the objectsfrom the computer system 100, the exemplary method includes (at 204)storing the extracted objects in a search platform 152.

The search platform 152 can be virtually any search platform. In oneexemplary implementation, the search platform is the Solr™ platform,which is an open source enterprise search platform from the Apache™Software Foundation. In a typical implementation, the SOLR platform mayfacilitate one or more of: full-text searching capabilities, hithighlighting, faceted searching, real-time indexing, dynamic clustering,database integrating, NoSQL features, rich document (e.g., Word, PDF)handling, etc. Providing distributed search and index replication, theSolr™ platform is also generally designed for scalability and faulttolerance.

In a typical implementation, one or more of the Solr uploaders 118 (at502, see FIG. 5) reads the decompressed source code from the secondcomputer-based memory storage (“storage II”) 146 (based on the locationinformation in the DCode queue 130) and reads the non-source code-basedobjects from the different object queues 132. The one or more Solruploaders 118 (at 504, see FIG. 5) store everything they read into theSOLR™ platform with an intelligent structure, perhaps adding in somemeta-data too to facilitate future searches. The Solr™ platform isgenerally very efficient in performing text searching and also has agreat rate of compression, which means that the size used to store theobjects generally can be much smaller than would be required if simplystoring the data in a file system. This is represented schematically inFIG. 8E.

Referring again to the flowchart of FIG. 2, after storing the extractedobjects in a search platform, the exemplary method includes (at 206)finding relationships between the stored objects.

In a typical implementation, whether two objects are related (or not)may depend on context. For example, if the objects are or includeprogramming objects, a person may want to know when a particular objectuses another object, or when a particular object is an instance ofanother object, etc. If such uses or instances exist, then, depending oncontext, the indicated objects might be considered to be related to oneanother. Alternatively, one may want to know when a particular piece ofcode reads from a particular table, or when a particular functionalitychecks for a particular authorization object or a particular privilege,or when a particular web service executes a particular program, etc. Ifsuch reading, checking, or executing exists, then, dependent on context,the indicated objects might be considered to be related to one another.These are just some examples of possible relationships that could be ofinterest to an end-user.

In one exemplary implementation, the types of relationships that thesystem 100 finds between objects might include: Calls (e.g.,relationship used when an object calls another object), Contains (e.g.,relationship between a Package object and any other object), Checks(e.g., relationship between any object and an authorization checkobject), Includes (relationship between any object and an Includeobject), Implements (relationship between a Class object and a methodobject), Handles (relationship between an ICF service object and a Classobject), Belongs (relationship between a Package object and a Componentobject), Defines (relationship between any object that creates a newsubroutine and the Subroutine object), and Performs (relationshipbetween any object that executes a subroutine and the Subroutineobject).

As we have already mentioned, objects can be divided in two groups:objects that have source code, and objects that do not have source code.FIG. 6A is a flowchart showing an exemplary process for findingrelationships for an object that has source code. FIG. 6B is a flowchartshowing an exemplary process for finding relationships for an objectthat does not have source code.

For objects that do not have source code (FIG. 6B), findingrelationships to other objects tends to be relatively straightforward,because the system 102 itself provides the needed information tounderstand if two particular objects are related. For instance, to knowwhich class handles a certain ICF service, all that may be required isto execute a particular query.

For objects where there is source code, finding relationships to otherobjects can be much more complex. For objects where there is source code(FIG. 6A), the system 102 typically reads each statement of the sourcecode and, attempts to understand if any statements in the source codemight define a relationship between objects.

In an exemplary implementation, analyzing the source code of a Reportobject called ‘Report1’ might reveal the following statement:

CALL FUNCTION function1.

The presence of this statement in Report 1 indicates that there is arelationship of the type “CALLS” between the object Report1 and theobject Function1. In a typical implementation, the system 102 of FIG. 1is configured to be able to make this kind of determination.

As another example, analyzing the source code of a Function objectcalled ‘Function1’ might reveal the following statements:

AUTHORITY-CHECK OBJECT ‘AUTH_OBJ_1’

ID ‘FIELD1’ FIELD ‘VALUE01’

ID ‘FIELD2’ FIELD ‘VALUE02’.

The presence of these statements in Function 1 indicates that there is arelationship of the type “CHECKS” between the object Function1 andobject AUTH_OBJ_1. In a typical implementation, the system 102 of FIG. 1is able to make this kind of determination.

Code analysis in this regard may be carried out, in a typicalimplementation, by the one or more analyzers 122. Typically, eachanalyzer 122 takes as its input the source code of an object andessentially reads one statement at a time from the source code of theobjects. The algorithm(s) executed by the analyzer 122 in this regardcan include varying levels of complexity. For example, the algorithm(s)are generally adapted to deal with things such as asynchronism (forexample: in order to find a specific type of relationship one may querythe graph database once all the EPF processes are finished and thenreload it with further calculated relationships) andnot-explicit-statements.

Assume the source code for a particular object includes the followingtwo statements in Report1:

x = ‘function1’. CALL FUNCTION x.In that case, the EPF 102 is able to determine—by considering multiple(e.g., two or more) lines of source code—that there is a relationship“CALLS” between Report1 and function1. In some instances, some (or all)of the multiple lines of source code considered are consecutive lines ofsource code. However, that is not required. Indeed, in some instances,some (or all) of the multiple lines of source code may be notconsecutive lines of source code.

In some implementations, in order to find relationships among theobjects, the one or more SOLR Downloaders 120 (at 602 in FIG. 6A and 652in FIG. 6B) accesses the objects stored in the SOLR platform.

If a particular object does not have any related source code (FIG. 6A),the object will be pushed (at 604, FIG. 6A) directly to the NSCObjectsqueue 136 (“NSCObjects” stands for Non-SourceCodeObjects). At thispoint, any relationships can be found by executing appropriatequery(ies) (at 606).

If a particular object does have associated source code (FIG. 6B), thesource code is saved in the third computer-based memory storage(“Storage III”) 148 and its location is pushed to the preACode queue 134(“preACode” stands for pre Analyzed Code).

The foregoing is represented schematically in FIG. 8F.

Next, each respective one of the analyzers 122 will select (at 656) aparticular source code location, that corresponds to an object to beanalyzed, from the preACode queue 134, get the source code stored at theindicated location from the third computer-based memory storage(“Storage III”) 148 and begin analyzing that source code. According tothe illustrated example, each analyzer 122 analyzes the source code fora particular object one line at a time (see 658). In this regard, theanalyzer 122 determines (at 660) whether the particular line of sourcecode under consideration defines or indicates any relationships withother objects. If so, the system creates or adds to a data structure forthat object to identify all of the identified relationships for thatobject. Then, the analyzer 122 determines (at 664) whether there are anylines of source code associated with the object under consideration thathave not yet been analyzed. If so, the analyzer 122 selects the nextline of source code for the object under consideration and analyzes it(at 660). Otherwise, the analyzer 122 considers (at 666) whether thereare any other objects whose source code has not yet been analyzed by itor by any of the other analyzers. If so, the analyzer selects (at 656) anew source code location for an as-yet unanalyzed object and begins toanalyze the corresponding object—again, typically, one line at a time.If the analyzer 122 determines (at 666) that all of the objects havebeen analyzed already, then the analyzer(s) 122, in the illustratedimplementation, output (at 668) a data structure for each analyzedobject that specifies all of the relationships for each respectiveanalyzed object. Of course, in various implementations, the analyzer(s)122 may output these data structures one by one as each one getsproduced—and not wait until all of the objects have been analyzed. Thesedata structures are pushed (at 670) to the ACode queue 138 (“ACode”stands for AnalyzedCode).

The foregoing is represented schematically in FIG. 8G.

Referring once again to the flowchart of FIG. 2, after findingrelationships between the objects extracted from the computer system100, the exemplary method includes (at 208) organizing the extracteddata, including the objects and their respective relationships, in aparticular way that will facilitate its further usage. Moreparticularly, in the illustrated implementation, organizing the data inthis manner entails creating a graph database to facilitatevisualization of the objects of the computer system 100 and theirrespective relationships to one another.

In some implementations, the graph database is a database that usesgraph structures for semantic queries with nodes and connections betweennodes respectively representing objects and relationships betweenobjects. This kind of database may allow the stored data to be linkedtogether directly, and in many cases retrieved with one operation.

In a typical implementation, producing the graph database and makingavailable relatively simple querying functionality, and facilities forgraphical visualization provide a most useful tool for analyzing andunderstanding the computer system 100 at issue and leveraging thatinformation toward improving overall computer system 100 performance,security, etc.

In this regard, in a typical implementation, the EPF 102 may apply graphtheory to model information in a way that can help answer questions thatwould not be easy to respond to if the information were not so modeledin this fashion.

In a typical implementation, and referring now to the exemplaryimplementation in FIG. 7, the GraphPreprocessors 124 (at 702) get theinformation that is stored in the NSCObjects queue 136 and the ACodequeue 138 and generate (at 704) the nodes and the relationships (edges)among the nodes in a particular structure (e.g., where each nodecorresponds to an object). As an example, this is what the particularstructure for REPORT1 and FUNCTION1 showing all their outgoingrelationships might look like:

-   ‘REPORT1’: {‘CALLS’: [‘REPORT2’, ‘FUNCTION1’ ],    -   ‘PERFORMS’: [‘SUBROUTINE1’ ],    -   ‘CHECKS’: [‘AUTHOBJ1’],    -   ‘INCLUDES’: [‘INCLUDE1’, ‘INCLUDE2′, ‘INCLUDE3’]}-   ‘FUNCTION1’: {‘CALLS’: [‘FUNCTION2’],    -   ‘PERFORMS’: [‘SUBROUTINE2‘,’SUBROUTINE3’],    -   ‘CHECKS’: [‘AUTHOBJ2’, ‘AUTHOBJ3′,’AUTHOBJ4’]}

Next, in the illustrated implementation, the particularstructure(s)—representing the nodes (objects) and associatedrelationships are stored (at 706). In this regard, the CSVNodes queue140 will store information about each nodes and the CSVRel queue 142will store information about the relationships between nodes (objects).According to the illustrated implementation, the system is configured toproduce (at 708) a standard structured output by exporting the graphlogic (e.g., the nodes and their corresponding relationships) asComma-Separated Value (CSV) structures. This job is done by theCSVCreators 125, which may be in charge of reading the output of theGraphPreprocessors 124 and generating Comma Separated Values files(.csv) which will be saved (at 710) in a computer-based memory storage(“Storage IV”) 150. The foregoing is represented schematically in FIG.8H.

This is an example of the list of CSVNodes for Reports:

-   -   Node ID, Object Name    -   1,Report1    -   4,Report2    -   5,Report3

This is an example of the list of CSVNodes for Functions:

-   -   Node ID, Object Name    -   2,Function1    -   3,Function2    -   6,Function3

This is an example of the list of CSVNodes for Authorization Objects:

-   -   Node ID, Object Name    -   7,AuthObj1    -   8,AuthObj2    -   9,AuthObj3

This is an example of the list of CSVRels (there is typically only onelist for all the relationships):

-   -   Relationship ID, Origin Node,Destination Node,Relationship Type    -   1, 1, 9,CHECKS    -   2, 1, 2,CALLS    -   3, 2, 4,CALLS    -   4, 2, 7,CHECKS    -   5, 2, 6,CALLS

The final part of the process represented in FIG. 7 is the creation (at712) of a database that may be based on the CSV files. In someimplementations, a software tool called neo4j may be used to do this. Anexample of what this type of database would represent (graphically) isshown in FIG. 9, which includes many nodes (circles), each of whichrepresents an object from the computer system 100, and linesinterconnecting the nodes to indicate relationships, functional orotherwise, there between.

This tool facilitates loading the CSV files into a database, so that thedatabase can be queried—asking about nodes and relationships andproducing (e.g., at a computer screen at a computer terminal, etc.) avisualization of the results.

As an example, if a particular user wanted to know all the objects thatat some point would call a specific report, he or she could ask: “I wantall nodes that have a relation of type CALLS to the node of name‘Report1’”, or in other words: “I want all the objects that callsReport1 in some part of its code”. In a typical implementation, beingable to answer this kind of query, opens up a very wide window ofpossibilities for gaining intelligence over the objects, and findinginteresting patterns that would not be available without access to thefunctionalities disclosed herein. Indeed, there are several possibleapplications for this technology some of which are specificallymentioned herein.

Automatic Impact Assessment of Patch Implementation

An entry point finder (EPF) can be leveraged to help assess the impactof patch implementation on a computer-based target system.

From time-to-time computer systems need to be, or at least should be,patched. Generally speaking, a patch is a piece of software designed toupdate a computer program and/or its supporting data, to fix or improveit. Patches may, for example, fix security vulnerabilities and/or otherbugs and/or improve system usability or performance. Although intendedto fix problems and make systems better, a poorly designed patch cansometimes introduce new problems into the system. In some instances, apatch update may break a particular functionality, for example, byremoving components that may be required to support that functionality.For these, and some other, reasons, companies can be reluctant, orsimply refuse, to implement patches that may truly be needed.

This problem is sometimes compounded by the fact that patches do notgenerally come with sufficient information to facilitate thoroughtesting of the patch and/or the patched system after that patch has beenimplementation. For compliance, regulatory and/or other reasons, forexample, companies may need or want to show that an implemented patchand/or the resulting patched system are operating properly and have beentested to prove that fact. The testing, in this regard, may easeconcerns about whether a particular patch may have created a problem ina particular system.

Of course, computer systems can be very large and complex, and often, noone person or even group of people may have a thorough understanding ofthe system and/or the impact that a particular patch might have on alarge and complex system. For some of these companies, it can bedifficult, if not impossible, to even figure out how to test animplemented patch or the resulting patched system to confirm the absenceof any patch-created problems.

In addition, of course, if there is a break that occurs due to a patchbeing implemented, the resulting damage can be severe. In fact, in someinstances, if a process, particularly a critical one, is broken ordisrupted, the consequences that flow from that break or disruption mayend up being worse than any consequences that would have come fromsimply leaving the system unpatched (and, therefore, potentiallyvulnerable).

In certain implementations, the entry point finder (EPF) conceptsdisclosed herein can be applied advantageously to help address thesesorts of concerns by making it easier to understand the impact that aparticular patch might have on a computer system. In this regard,reference is made to FIG. 10, a schematic representation of an exemplaryimpact assessment system 1000, in which an EPF 102 is being used to helpassess the impact that a particular patch (or patches) might have on aparticular target computer system 1100 where the patch is to beimplemented.

With the insight that can be provided by the impact assessment system1000 of FIG. 10, a system administrator can be confident that a robust,yet efficient, testing regime can be designed to check whether anyproblems may have been created by deploying a patch on a particularsystem. This kind of testing will either confirm that no such problemsexist, or if such a problem exists, the system administrator will haveenough knowledge to effectively manage the problem before it damages thecompany.

The illustrated impact detection impact assessment system 1000 has auser activity extractor 1502, a first computer database (“knowledge baseof activity”) 1504, a second computer database (“knowledge base ofpatches”) 1506, a third party missing patches detector 1508, a fixedobjects identifier 1510, the EPF 102, a relevant entry points calculator1512, and an impacted users calculator 1514.

According to the illustrated implementation, the user activity extractor1502 is communicatively coupled to the target system 1100, and theknowledge base of activity 1504 is communicatively coupled to the useractivity extractor 1502. The fixed objects identifier 1510 iscommunicatively coupled to the knowledge base of patches database 1506and to the third party missing patches detector 1508. The EPF 102 iscommunicatively coupled to the fixed objects identifier 1510. Therelevant entry points calculator 1512 is communicatively coupled to theknowledge base of activity database 1504 and to the EPF 102. Theimpacted user calculator 1514 is communicatively coupled to the relevantentry points calculator 1512.

In the illustrated implementation, the relevant entry points calculator1512 is configured to output a list of relevant entry points to test bypatch 1516 and the impacted users calculator 1514 is configured tooutput affected users by patch 1518.

In a typical implementation, the user activity extractor 1502 can be orcan include virtually any kind of technology that is capable ofextracting or learning what specific activities are actually executed byusers on the system 1100 during a particular period of time. In thisregard, the user activity extractor 1502 may query the target system1100 for information about the end user activities on target system1100. In some implementations, the user activity extractor 1502 includesor leverages a system logging feature to learn what specific activitiesare actually executed. The system logging feature may related to, forexample, security audit logs, audit trails, user activity logs, businesstransaction logs, HTTP access logs, etc.

Generally speaking, a security audit log (from the SAP® company, forexample) may be considered to be a tool that creates records of varioustypes of activities that occur in a system (e.g., 1100). Some of theitems that a security audit log might record include: security-relatedchanges to the system 1100 (e.g., changes to user master records),information regarding logon attempts (e.g., successful and/orunsuccessful logon attempts), and/or information that enables thereconstruction of a series of events (e.g., successful or unsuccessfultransaction starts). More specifically, in some implementations, thefollowing types of information may be automatically recorded in asecurity audit log: successful and unsuccessful dialog logon attempts,successful and unsuccessful remote function call (RFC) logon attempts,RFC calls to function modules, successful and unsuccessful transactionstarts, successful and unsuccessful report starts, changes to usermaster records, changes to the audit configurations, users logins,transactions started, reports executed, other function calls, rolesassignments, system shutdowns, audit changes, etc. An audit trail maybe, for example, a security-related chronological record, set ofrecords, and/or destination and source of records that providedocumentary evidence of a sequence of activities that have affected atany time a specific operation, procedure, or event in the system 1100. Auser activity log may be, for example, a transcription of variousactivities, etc., including, for example, names of applications run,titles of pages opened, URLs, text (typed, edited, copied/pasted, etc.),commands, and/or scripts. A business transaction log may include, forexample, a detailed record of all activity that relates to businesstransactions for a company. An HTTP access log may include, for example,a detailed of all successful and unsuccessful attempts to access, forexample, an HTTP address.

The knowledge base of activity 1504 can be, for example, any kind ofcomputer-based database that contains information about activities onthe system. Generally speaking, the knowledge base of activity 1504 willinclude, or eventually be loaded with, a list that identifies all of theuser activities (and/or other activities) on or related to the systemduring a particular period of time. The knowledge base of patches 1506can be, for example, any kind of computer-based database that contains,or will eventually be loaded with, a list that identifies all of thepatches available for a given product. In some exemplaryimplementations, the knowledge base of patches 1506 may include, foreach patch, a patch identifier (ID), a title, criticality of the patch,components affected by the patch, and/or solutions associated with thepatch.

At a high level, the illustrated impact assessment system 1000 isconfigured to identify any entry points (e.g., objects that can beexecuted by an end-user) in the target system 1100 that may be impactedby one or more patches being implemented on the target system 1100 andthat actually have been used by an end user of the target system 1100within some end user-specified period of time. Once identified, these,and possibly only these, end points can be tested to efficiently confirmthat the patch implementation did not create any problems with thetarget system 1100.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of just such an exemplary process that involvesidentifying, with the impact assessment system 1000, any entry points ina target system 1100 that have been or will be impacted by theimplementation of one or more patches on the target system 1100 and thathave been used by end users of the target system 1100 within someuser-specified period of time. The illustrated flowchart also showstesting of the system after patch implementation, with a particularfocus on the identified impacted entry points, to efficiently checkwhether the implemented patch(es) may have created any problems withrespect to the target system 1100.

According to the illustrated process, a user of the system specifies (at1520) a time period that the impact assessment system 1000 shouldconsider relevant for purposes of identifying actual end user activitiesthat have happened or that will happen on the target system 1100. Inthis regard, the impact assessment system 1000 may have a computer-baseduser interface terminal (not shown in FIG. 10), with a screen thatenables or prompts the user to specify a desired time period. The timeperiod may be associated with virtually any length of time (e.g., a day,a week, a month, three months, a year, etc.) and may start at virtuallyany particular point in time.

In a typical implementation, the impact assessment system 1000 isconfigured to consider any end user activities that may have occurred(or that will occur) on the target system 1100 during the user-specifiedtime period. Generally speaking, of course, if the user-specified timeperiod is longer, system 1000 accuracy (in identifying critical entrypoints) may be improved. That said, generally speaking, if theuser-specified time period is longer, then the system 1000 may need moretime to execute its intended functionalities.

Next, according to the illustrated implementation, the system 1000 (at1522) obtains information about user activities on the target system1100 during the user-specified time period.

If the end user has specified a particular time frame (e.g., one month),and information about user activities on the target system 1100 alreadyhas been collected for a corresponding period of time frame (e.g., theprevious month), then, in some implementations, the already-collectedinformation about user activity on the target system 1100 may betransferred substantially right away, via the user activity extractor1502, to the impact assessment system 1000. In some implementations,however, efforts to collect information about user activities on thetarget system may begin only after the end user specifies the desiredtime frame, and, in those instances, the collection efforts wouldcontinue for the user-specified time period (e.g., one month). In thelatter situation, the overall process (represented in the illustratedflowchart), of course, will be delayed until this learning step iscompleted.

If the target system 1100 is a typical SAP® system, then the informationabout user activities on the target system may come from at least twopossible sources: a security audit log for the target system 1100 and/oran HTTP access log for the target system 1100. In some implementations,this information may come from one or more other source, such as abusiness transaction log, for example.

A typical security audit log will record a variety of different types ofinformation (e.g., users logins, transactions started, reports executed,function calls, roles assignments, system shutdowns, audit changes,etc.). However, in a typical implementation, the impact assessmentsystem 1000 is generally only interested in activities or eventsrecorded by the security audit log that relate to direct user activitiesor operations on the target system 1100.

Therefore, in a typical implementation, the information that getsdelivered to the impact assessment system 1000 from the security auditlog about user activities on the target system 1100 includes informationabout: 1) transactions started (e.g., Transaction &A Started), 2)reports started (e.g., Report &A Started), and/or 3) successful functioncalls (e.g., Successful RFC Call &C (Function Group=&A)), where &A and&C are fields that may be replaced by the actual objects names. Aspecific example of these types of activities/events may look likethis: 1) Transaction SU01 started, 2) Report RSUSR003 started, and/or 3)Successful RFC Call RFC_READ_TABLE (Function Group=SDTX).

A typical HTTP access log only records any HTTP requests performed byend-users of the target system 1100 through a web browser. These areessentially user-initiated requests to uniform resource locators (URLs),such as “192.168.100.25-user_1-[31/Oct/2002:10:46:34+0200]”GET/catalog/index.html “200 380.” In a typical implementation, theinformation that gets delivered to the impact assessment system 1000from the HTTP access log about user activities on the target system 1100includes information about the recorded user-initiated requests.

Generally speaking, information about these four types of events (e.g.,transactions started, reports started, successful function calls, andURL requests) provides a fairly good indication of user activities onthe target system over the specified period of time. That is because, ina typical implementation, most, if not all, user activities on a targetsystem will involve a URL request, a transaction, a report or a functioncall.

In a typical implementation, once this information (about transactionsstarted, reports started, successful function calls, and URL requests)is received by the system 1000, it may be processed to produce a tablelike Table 1, below:

TABLE 1 User Type of Activity Object executed user_1 Transactiontransaction_1 user_1 Report report_1 user_1 Transaction transaction_2user_2 Transaction transaction_3 user_2 Function function_1 user_2Function function_2 user_3 Transaction transaction_2

Table 1 identifies various users of the target system 1100, types ofactivities executed by those users on the target system, and objectsexecuted upon through the indicated activity types. This table, or onelike it, may be stored in or as the knowledge base of activity 1504.

According to the illustrated flowchart, the impact assessment system1000 (at 1524) identifies, with the fixed object identifier 1501, anyobjects in the target system 1100 that either have been fixed or will befixed by one or more patches implemented on the target system 1100. In atypical implementation, the impact assessment system 1000 does this byleveraging information in the knowledge base of patches 1506 andinformation identified by the third party missing patches detector 1508.In this regard, the fixed objects identifier 1510 typically accessesand/or interacts with the knowledge base of patches 1506 and/or thethird party missing patches detector 1508 to identify a list of objects(“fixed objects”) from the target system 1100 that have been or will befixed by one or more patches that have been or will be implemented onthe target system 1100.

Next, this list of fixed objects is provided to the entry point finder(EPF) 102 and the EPF 102 (at 1524) identifies all of the entry pointson the target system 1100 that could be impacted by the fixed objectsbeing fixed.

Next, according to the illustrated process, the impact assessment system1000 (at 1526) cross-references the information about actual useractivities on the target system 1100 during the user-specified timeperiod against the entry points on the target system 1100 identified bythe EPF 102 that could be impacted by the objects having been fixed.This cross-referencing produces (at 1528), for example, anidentification of all the entry points on the target system 1100 thatcould be impacted by the objects being fixed and that have been used bya user during the specified period of time. Additionally (oralternatively), in some implementations, the information produced by thecross-referencing may include, for example, 1) a list of functionsimpacted by one or more associated vulnerabilities and that need to (orthat should) be tested after the patch is implemented (fixed reason 1),2) a list of end users that are actually using those functions and whichprocess(es) those end users are actually involved in (fixed reason 2),and 3) with previous two items, which of the impacted functions werenever used (thereby, reducing the scope of testing (time and cost).

Armed with this important information, the system administrator, forexample, can design and execute (at 1530) an efficient, yet robust,testing regime on the patched target system 1100 to confirm that noproblems have been created by the patch implementation, or to identifyany such problems clearly so that they can be rectified.

Using an EPF to Identify Objects in the Target System Impacted by aPatch

One of the functionalities represented in the flowchart of FIG. 11, isthat the EPF 102 is used to identify objects, including entry points, inthe target system 1100 that have been or will be impacted by a patch.

One feature of the impact assessment system 1000 is that it has adatabase (i.e., the knowledge base of patches 1506) with informationabout the patches implemented on the target system 1100. This database1506 generally contains a full list of available patches, andcorresponding information, for a given product on the target system1100. For each patch, the database 1506 generally contains detailedinformation, such as, for example: the patch ID, the title, criticality,any affected components, the solution, a fixed object, etc. From thelist of attributes for each patch, an important one is the fixed object.Generally speaking, the fixed object is an object in the target system1100 that has been (or that needs to be) modified in order to solve anissue that the patch is intended to address.

In some instances, the fixed object may be identified in the patchitself. In that case, it is generally easy for the fixed objectinformation to be loaded into the knowledge base of patches 1506 for useby the impact assessment system 1000. However, in some instances, thepatch may not include that kind of information, and so, additionalprocessing may be required to identify the fixed object associated witha particular patch.

Generally speaking, there are several possible ways to identify a fixedobject associated with a particular patch. According to one example, theimpact assessment system 1000 may make a binary differential comparisonor java differential comparison or plain-text code differentialcomparison associated with a given patch and a previous patch, or bycomparing objects from the target system 1100 before patching with thesame objects from the target system 1100 after patching. The differencesidentified by these differential comparisons would essentially identifyor at least be associated with the fixed object(s) for that patch.Another possible way to identify a fixed object associated with aparticular patch could entail calculating a hash for each object of thesystem, and then calculating the same type of hash again after applyingthe patch. Those objects whose hashes changed would essentially identifyor be associated with the fixed object(s) for that patch.

The knowledge base of patches 1506 may have information about a widevariety of patches. However, the processing functionalities associatedwith impact assessment system 1000 generally only utilize informationabout the patches that are relevant to the target system 1100. A certainpatch, for example, may apply to a certain version of a product, but notfor other versions (e.g., not for a version that is on the target system1100). Thus, in a typical implementation, the impact assessment system1100 may be configured to filter the information in the knowledge baseof patches to produce a filtered list that includes information aboutonly those patches that are relevant to the target system (e.g., thathave been, or will be, applied to the target system 1100). This filteredlist of relevant patches may be produced by a third party tool, like anysoftware product that is able to retrieve the list of relevant patchesfor a given system.

In a typical implementation, once the filtered list of relevant patcheshas been produced, the EPF 102 leverages that information. In general,the EPF 102 should be fully operational, and loaded with informationfrom the target system 1100 when it is used to identify entry pointsassociated with the fixed objects in the target system 1100.

In a typical implementation, for each Patch ID associated with a fixedobject, the impact assessment system 1000 may query the EPF 102 for allof the entry point objects that are connected somehow to the fixedobject. At the end of this process, there will be a full list ofaffected Entry Points for each relevant patch.

An Exemplary Implementation: An SAP® System

This (Table 2) is a simplified version of an exemplary list of relevantpatches for an exemplary system A:

TABLE 2 Patch ID Fixed Object Type of object 1 object_1 Subroutine 2object_2 Class Method 3 object_2 Class Method 3 object_3 Function

In this exemplary implementation, for each distinct object identified,the impact assessment system 1000 refers to the graph database of theEPF 102 to determine any related entry points. A query (in neo4j, calledCypher, for example) for entry points calling a specific subroutineobject is:

MATCH (entry_point)−[*0..10]−>(n)−[:PERFORMS]−>(fixed_object) WHEREfixed_object.type = ‘subroutine’ and fixed_object.name = ′object_1′ and(entry_point.type = ‘transaction’ or entry_point.type = ‘report’ orentry_point.type = ‘function’ or entry_point.type = ‘url’) RETURNentry_point.name, entry_point.type

This can be read as “find all the entry points (objects of typetransaction, report, function or url) that have a path (with 10 nodesteps maximum) that at the end PERFORMS the specific fixed_objectobject_1 of type subroutine”.

A second example where the fixed object is a class method is:

MATCH (entry_point)−[*0..10]−>(n)−[:CALLS]−>(fixed_object) WHEREfixed_object.type = ‘subroutine’ and fixed_object.name = ′object_2′ and(entry_point.type = ‘transaction’ or entry_point.type = ‘report’ orentry_point.type = ‘function’ or entry_point.type = ‘url’) RETURNentry_point.name, entry_point.type

This can be read as “find all the entry_points (objects of typetransaction, report, function or url) that have a path (with 10 nodesteps maximum) that at the end CALLS the specific fixed_object object_2of type class method”.

At the end of this process, for each fixed object, the impact assessmentsystem has a list of entry points that are impacted by that object. Thislist may look like this (Table 3):

TABLE 3 Fixed Object Affected Entry Point Type Affected Entry Point Nameobject_1 URL url_1 object_1 Transaction transaction_1 object_1Transaction transaction_2 object_2 Report report_1 object_2 Functionfunction_1 object_2 Function function_2 object_2 URL url_2 object_3Transaction transaction_1 object_3 Function function_3

Based on this list, the impact assessment system 1100 can get the firstinitial set of impacted objects that need to (or should) be tested afterthe patch implementation. This means that if a company implements therelevant patches, then the above listed entry points must (or should) betested in order to ensure everything continues working as it should.

One of the functionalities described above involves the impactassessment system 1000 essentially learning the activities actuallyexecuted by users on the target system 1100 in a given period of time.This step is essentially about learning the operations that are executedby users in their daily work. Having the information about dailyoperations, the system 1000 will be able to determine, from the full (orfiltered) list of entry points, which of the entry points are trulyrelevant to users' daily operations.

As mentioned above, the end-user of the impact assessment systemtypically specifies the relevant time period, which could be a day, aweek, a month, a year, etc. For discussion purposes, let's assume thatthe specified time period is one month. In this exemplaryimplementation, if the SAP® system already has user activity informationfrom the past month, the impact assessment system asks for all theevents in the last month. Otherwise, the SAP® system starts recording atthat time and continues to record for one month in order to get thedesired user activity. In the case of an SAP® system, this impactassessment system 1000 is fed by two (or more) main logging features ofthe SAP® system: the security audit Log and the HTTP access log.

The security audit log typically records user logins, transactionsstarted, reports executed, function calls, roles assignments, systemsshutdown, audit changes, and so on. As mentioned above, the informationfrom the security audit log that typically is most relevant to theimpact assessment system 1000 includes: 1) Transaction &A Started, 2)Report &A Started, and 3) Successful RFC Call &C (Function Group=&A),where &A and &C are fields that can be replaced by the actual objectsnames, for example, Transaction SU01 started, Report RSUSR003 started,and Successful RFC Call RFC_READ_TABLE (Function Group=SDTX).

The HTTP access log records HTTP requests performed by end-users througha web browser. As mentioned above, the information recorded by the HTTPaccess log that typically is most relevant to the impact assessmentsystem 1000 is the request to a url, for example:192.168.100.25-user_1-[31/Oct/2002:10:46:34+0200]“GET/catalog/index.html” 200 380.

During a month, these 4 types of events typically are recorded andstored into a database of events. After that, it is processed and theresult is a table like the following (Table 4):

TABLE 4 User Type of Activity Object executed user_1 Transactiontransaction_1 user_1 Report report_1 user_1 Transaction transaction_2user_2 Transaction transaction_3 user_2 Function function_1 user_2Function function_2 user_3 Transaction transaction_2

Here we have information that might, in a typical implementation, occupythe knowledge base of activity, which includes a full list of executionsfor all the users in a certain period of time.

From here, the impact assessment system typically derives information toprioritize or help prioritize objects or entry points that need to (orthat should) be tested. In one exemplary implementation, this involvesgenerating two types of outputs: 1) a list of relevant entry points totest after patch implementation, and 2) a list of users that may beaffected by a failed patch implementation.

Having the information in the knowledge base of activity, the impactassessment system 1100 may, in some implementations, subtract from thefull list of affected entry points, the ones that are not present in theuser activity. The resulting list would represent a list of relevantentry points that need to be tested for that specific customer after thepatch implementation. As result of a similar process, using the useractivity, the impact assessment system 1000 can list the specific usersof the target system that are using the relevant entry points.

In a typical implementation, this presents at least two majorbreakthroughs: 1) having a complete understanding of the impact of apatch implementation, giving the possibility to measure the riskexposure and giving more information to the user to better prioritizethe patches, and/or 2) adding information about the real users who wouldbe affected in case something goes wrong. This type of information isparticularly valuable as it shows the administrator who is really beingaffected. Even if there are many relevant entry points to test, if, forexample, some of the people involved (affected users) do not belong toor participate in a critical process of the company, there is a lowerrisk in not patching or not testing the patch after implementation. Orthe opposite, if the affected users are part of a very critical process,then a failed patch would have a higher risk.

Going back to the full list of affected Entry Points, the impactassessment system, in the current example, had this (Table 3):

TABLE 3 Fixed Object Affected Entry Point Type Affected Entry Point Nameobject_1 URL url_1 object_1 Transaction transaction_1 object_1Transaction transaction_2 object_2 Report report_1 object_2 Functionfunction_1 object_2 Function function_2 object_2 URL url_2 object_3Transaction transaction_1 object_3 Function function_3

And, the knowledge base of activity had this (Table 1):

TABLE 1 User Type of Activity Object executed user_1 Transactiontransaction_1 user_1 Report report_1 user_1 Transaction transaction_2user_2 Transaction transaction_3 user_2 Function function_1 user_2Function function_2 user_3 Transaction transaction_2

As result of the subtraction performed by the impact assessment system1000 (e.g., by object_executed) of the second list from the first list,the system 1000 produces the following result (Table 5):

TABLE 5 Fixed Object Relevant Entry Point Type Relevant Entry Point Nameobject_1 Transaction transaction_1 object_1 Transaction transaction_2object_2 Report report_1 object_2 Function function_1 object_2 Functionfunction_2 object_3 Transaction transaction_1

If the impact assessment system 1000 maps this list to the knowledgebase of patches, in an exemplary implementation, this would produce(Table 6):

TABLE 6 Patch Fixed Relevant Entry Entry Point ID Object Type of objectPoint Type 1 object_1 Subroutine transaction_1 Transaction 1 object_1Subroutine transaction_2 Transaction 2 object_2 Class Method report_1Report 2 object_2 Class Method function_1 Function 2 Object_2 ClassMethod function_2 Function 3 object_2 Class Method report_1 Report 3object_2 Class Method function_1 Function 3 object_2 Class Methodfunction_2 Function 3 object_3 Function transaction_1 TransactionFrom the above list the system 1000 (or a system user) can determine,for example:

-   -   If Patch ID 1 is implemented, transaction_1 and transaction_2        must be tested.    -   If Patch ID 2 is implemented, report_1, function_1 and        function_2 must be tested.    -   If Patch ID 3 is implemented, report_1, function_1, function_2        and transaction 1 must be tested.

If the system 1000 maps again this list to the user activity, theresults can be extended to (Table 7):

TABLE 7 Patch ID Relevant Entry Point Entry Point Type Affected User 1transaction_1 Transaction user_1 1 transaction_2 Transaction user_2,user_3 2 report_1 Report user_1 2 function_1 Function user_2 2function_2 Function user_2 3 report_1 Report user_1 3 function_1Function user_2 3 function_2 Function user_2 3 transaction_1 Transactionuser_1From the above list, the system 1000 (or a system user) can determine:

-   -   If Patch ID 1 is implemented and fails, user_1, user_2 and        user_3 may be affected.    -   If Patch ID 2 is implemented and fails, user_1 and user_2 may be        affected.    -   If Patch ID 3 is implemented and fails, user_1 and user_2 may be        affected.        Automatic Detection of Unnecessary Privileges

Entry point finder (EPF) technology can be utilized or leveraged to helpdetect unnecessary privileges in a target computer system. In computerparlance, a privilege may be considered the capability of performing acertain activity by a given user.

Over time, in a company, large computer systems (e.g., SAP® systems),and the privileges associated therewith, can evolve considerably. Forexample, people may pass in and out of the company, the computer systemand programs within the computer system may get fixed, patched and/orcustomized, and users, privileges, roles, etc. may be refined orotherwise changed. From a security standpoint, after some period of timea company may undertake a “profiles/roles re-engineering” or“permissions re-engineering” type project aimed at trying to ensure thatprofiles, roles, permissions or privileges are up-to date and alignedwith the company's strategic intensions. Part of these projects mayinclude analyzing whether there may be any unnecessary privileges in thesystem (e.g., privileges assigned to people, roles, profiles. etc. thatare not necessary to support the company's strategic objectives). Suchundertakings can be manually intensive, and may involve, for example,analyzing each user of the computer system, with in-person interviews totry to gain an understanding of the normal activities for each user onthe system, and then just trying to figure out which assigned privilegesmay be unnecessary. Sometimes, after many months of work, a systemadministrator might be able to discard certain privileges that are nolonger used and/or no longer required. This sort of process cansometimes help to limit some security vulnerabilities for the system,but, again, in very big companies with correspondingly big computersystems, it is not uncommon for this type of project to take severalyears or more and cost millions of dollars.

In certain implementations, the entry point finder (EPF) conceptsdisclosed herein can be applied or leveraged advantageously to helpaddress these sorts of concerns by making it easier to detectunnecessary privileges in a target computer system (e.g., an SAP®system). In this regard, reference is made to FIG. 12, which is aschematic representation of an exemplary system 1200 that leverages theEPF concepts disclosed herein to help detect unnecessary privileges at atarget computer system 1100 simply, quickly, reliably, and withrelatively little effort required on the part of a system administrator.At a very high level, the system 1200, in a typical implementation,performs this functionality by identifying any of the privileges thatare available at the target computer system 1100, but that have not beenchecked by the target system, for example, within a user-specifiedperiod of time. Once identified, these unnecessary privileges can be,and usually are, removed by the system administrator.

For some programs or systems, privileges may be assigned directly tousers; for some programs or systems, privileges may be assigned to rolesor profiles and the roles or profiles may be assigned to the users.These types of schemes are generally referred to as Role-Based AccessControl (RBAC). The system 1200 and the associated techniques disclosedherein may apply to RBAC systems, and/or any other type of systems thatinvolves privileges.

The system 1200 in FIG. 12, which has an EPF 102, is coupled to thetarget system 1100 and configured to detect/identify unnecessaryprivileges in the target system 1100.

In this regard, system 1200 includes a privilege extractor 1202 and auser activity extractor 1502, both of which are communicatively coupledto the target system 1100. The privilege extractor 1202 can be virtuallyany kind of data extractor configured to extract information about enduser privileges in the target system 1200. Likewise, the user activityextractor 1502 can be virtually any kind of data extractor that iscapable of extracting information about end user activities that areexecuted by end users on the target system 1100 (e.g., during aparticular period of time).

The privileges extractor 1202 is communicatively coupled to acomputer-based database (a knowledge base of privileges 1206). Theknowledge base of privileges 1206 can be, for example, any kind ofcomputer-based database that contains information about end userprivileges on the system. Generally speaking, the knowledge base ofprivileges 1206 will include, or eventually be loaded with, a list thatidentifies all of the user privileges on or related to the target system1100. In a typical implementation, the privileges extractor 1202 isconfigured to extract privilege information from the target system 1100and store that extracted privilege information in the knowledge base ofprivileges 1206.

The user activity extractor 1502 is communicatively coupled to acomputer-based database (the knowledge base of activity 1504). In atypical implementation, the user activity extractor 1502 is configuredto extract user activity information from the target system 1100 andstore that extracted user activity information in the knowledge base ofactivity 1504.

The entry points identifier 1208 and entry point finder 102 arecommunicatively coupled to the knowledge base of activity 1504, and areconfigured to identify privileges by entry point 1210, which is fed intoa required privileges calculator 1212. The required privilegescalculator 1212 is communicatively coupled to the knowledge base ofprivileges 1206 and to the EPF 102. The required privileges calculator1212 is configured to identify any unnecessary privileges per user 1214.

In a typical implementation, the entry point identifier 1208 maps allthe user activity to the actual entry points; not all the activity isstrictly related to entry points. Then the identified entry points maybe used as input for the EPF.

At a high level, the illustrated system 1200 is configured to identifyany unnecessary privileges that have actually been checked by the targetsystem during an end user-specified period of time. Once identified,these end points can be eliminated (e.g., by a system administrator) toenhance overall security of the target system 1100. In someimplementations, the affected users (e.g., users that have been assignedthe designed unnecessary privileges) may be identified as well. FIG. 13is a flowchart that represents just such an exemplary process.

According to the illustrated process, a user of the system (e.g., asystem administrator) specifies (at 1320) a period of time (e.g., aweek, a month, a year, etc.) that the system 1200 should considerrelevant for purposes of determining whether a particular privilege isnecessary (e.g., being checked by the target system 1100) or not. Inthis regard, the system 1200 typically has a computer-based userinterface terminal (not shown in FIG. 12) or the like, with a screenthat enables or prompts the user to specify the desired period of time.The time period may be associated with virtually any length of time(e.g., a day, a week, a month, three months, a year, etc.) and may beentirely in the past, or extend into the future. In a typicalimplementation, the system 1200 is configured, so that whatever timeperiod the end user specifies will be considered relevant by the systemfor purposes of determining whether a particular privilege is necessary(e.g., being checked by the target system 1100) or not. Generallyspeaking, of course, the longer the specified time period, the morelikely the system 1200 will be to correctly determine whether aparticular privilege is unnecessary or not. Conversely, the longer thespecified time period, the longer the time needed for the system toexecute its intended functionalities in this regard.

Next, according to the illustrated implementation, the system 1200receives information about user activities on the target system 1200during the user-specified time period. In this regard, the target system1100 usually will have one or more logging features (e.g., securityaudit logs, audit trails, user activity logs, business transaction logs,HTTP access logs, etc.) to capture this kind of user activityinformation. If, for example, the end user has specified a time periodof one month as being relevant to determining whether a particularprivilege is necessary (e.g., being checked by the target system 1100)or not, and the target system 1100 already has collected one month worthof user activity information, then that information may be providedimmediately to the system 1200 for processing. If, however, the targetsystem 1100 has not already collected one month worth of user activityinformation, then, in that instance, the target system 1100 might thenstart (or continue) collecting user activity information until one monthworth of that information can be provided to the system 1200 forprocessing.

If the target system 1100 is a typical SAP® system, then the useractivity information may come from any one of (or both of) two (or more)possible sources: a security audit log for the target system 1100 and anHTTP access log for the target system 1100.

In a typical implementation, the security audit log will record a widevariety of different types of information (e.g., users logins,transactions started, reports executed, function calls, rolesassignments, system shutdowns, audit changes, etc.). However, in atypical implementation, only some of those types of information may beconsidered relevant to determining whether a particular privilege isnecessary (e.g., being checked by the target system 1100) or not. In oneexemplary implementation, the only information recorded by a securityaudit log, for example, that is considered relevant to determiningwhether a particular privilege is necessary or not is informationabout: 1) transactions started, 2) reports started, and/or 3) successfulfunction calls. The information about transactions started may take theform of Transaction &A Started; the information about reports startedmay take the form of Report &A Started; and the information aboutsuccessful function calls may take the form of Successful RFC Call & C(Function Group=&A), where &A and &C are fields that may be replaced byactual object names. A specific example of these types ofactivities/events may look like this: 1) Transaction SU01 started, 2)Report RSUSR003 started, and/or 3) Successful RFC Call RFC_READ_TABLE(Function Group=SDTX).

In a typical implementation, the information recorded by an HTTP accesslog that is considered relevant to determining whether a particularprivilege is necessary or not includes any HTTP requests performed bythe end-users of the target system 1100 (e.g., through a web browser).These are essentially user-initiated requests to uniform resourcelocators (URLs), such as“192.168.100.25-user_1-[31/Oct/2002:10:46:34+0200]”GET/catalog/index.html “200 380.”

In an exemplary implementation, this information from the security auditlog and the HTTP access log, for the specified period of time, isdelivered (at 1322) to the system 1200 for processing. Generallyspeaking, this information (e.g., about transactions started, reportsstarted, successful function calls, and URL requests) provides a fairlygood indication of user activities on the target system 1100 over theuser specified period of time. That is because, in many instances, useractivities on the target system 1100 will involve a URL request, atransaction, a report or a function call.

In a typical implementation, once this information (about transactionsstarted, reports started, successful function calls, and URL requests)is received by the system 1200, the information may be organized andstored in table-form, similar to Table 1, above. Table 1 identifiesvarious users of a target system (e.g., 1100), the types of activitiesexecuted by those users on the target system, and any objects executedupon through the indicated activities. This information may be stored,for example, in the knowledge base of activity 1504.

Referring again to the flowchart of FIG. 13, for each user activity, thesystem 1200 (at 1324) queries the EPF 102 for information about anyprivileges associated that user activity. So, for example, the querymight be to determine whether any privileges may have been checked whenthat user activity was performed. In a typical implementation, that sortof query can be readily answered utilizing the EPF 102, because, the EPF102 generally will have mapped any privileges and/or privilege checksagainst any user activities during EPF set up. For each query, aresponse is returned (at 1326) that identifies any required (andchecked) privileges associated with the corresponding activity. Thesystem 1200 generally repeats this process (1324, 1326) until the system1200 (at 1328) determines that there are any more user activities fromthe user-specified time period to consider. At that point, the system1200 will have produced a list (1330) of privileges that actually havebeen used by target system users during the specified period of time.

Meanwhile, according to the illustrated implementation, the system 1200requests (at 1332) an identification of all assigned privileges assignedto users at the target computer system 1100. A response to that requestis provided (at 1334). Typically, the target computer system 1100 itselfprovides this information. This process produces a listing (1336) of allassigned privileges at the target computer system 1100.

Next, (at 1338) the system 1200 essentially subtracts (or removes) theprivileges that were actually used by users on the target system 1100during the specified time period from the listing of all assignedprivileges at the target system 1100. The remaining privileges (i.e.,those not removed) essentially include only those that were not used(e.g., checked) during the specified time period. The system 1200,according to the represented implementation, designates those asunnecessary privileges (1340). Moreover, in some implementations, thesystem 1200 may also identify (e.g., to the system administrator) whichusers are assigned to the designated unnecessary privileges.

This information may be provided (e.g., at a computer-based userinterface terminal) to a system administrator, for example, who can then(at 1342) remove the so designate unnecessary privileges.

A more specific example of some of the foregoing steps—involved inidentifying unnecessary privileges and/or the impacted users in a targetsystem—follows.

In this exemplary implementation, the system 1200 (at 1332, 1334, and1336) may create a database with some (or all) of the information itreceives from or about the target computer system 1200 (e.g., an SAPsystem). This information may include, for example:

-   -   Full list of users, such as:

TABLE 8 Users user_1 user_2 user_3

-   -   All roles/profiles assigned to the users, such as:

TABLE 9 Users Assigned Roles user_1 role_1 user_1 role_3 user_2 role_3user_3 role_2 user_3 role_4

-   -   All privileges relating to the previous roles/profiles, such as:

TABLE 10 Roles Privileges role_1 priv_1 role_1 priv_2 role_1 priv_3role_2 priv_2 role_2 priv_4 role_3 priv_5 role_4 priv_1 role_4 priv_3

Based on the foregoing information, the system 1200, in someimplementations, may create and store another table (Table 11) thatincludes a full list of users for the target system mapped to theirrespective privileges (note: in an SAP® system, privileges are sometimesknown as authorizations).

TABLE 11 User Priv Assigned By Role user_1 priv_1 role_1 user_1 priv_2role_1 user_1 priv_3 role_1 user_1 priv_5 role_3 user_2 priv_5 role_3user_3 priv_2 role_2 user_3 priv_4 role_4 user_3 priv_1 role_4 user_3priv_3 role_4

Any, or all, of this information may be stored, for example, in theknowledge base of privileges 1206, and essentially amounts to a fullidentification user privileges for the target system 1100.

Next, an example of 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, and 1330 is provided. Foreach user activity (e.g., corresponding to an end point in thecorresponding graph database) executed on the target system 1100, thesystem 1200 asks its EPF 102 (using, e.g., a graph database neo4j,loaded) for checked privileges related to the entry points. For example,for the entry point of type transaction: transaction_1, find all theprivileges that are some point would be checked. In the neo4j querylanguage (called ‘Cypher’), that query may be written like this:

MATCH (entry_point)−[*0..10]−>(n)−[:CHECKS]−>(privilege) WHEREentry_point.name = ′transaction_1′ and entry_point.type = ‘Transaction’RETURN entry_point, privilege

This can be read as “from an entry_point (of type transaction) calledtransaction_1, find all the paths (with 10 node steps maximum) that atthe end check a privilege and return the entry_point name and thechecked privilege.” The number of steps can be modified (e.g., by a useror automatically) according to the requirements; generally speaking, thebigger the number is, the slower is the process. At the end of thisprocess, the system 1200 would have a new result: a list of requiredprivileges (Table 12).

TABLE 12 Entry Point Checked Privilege transaction_1 priv_1transaction_1 priv_3 report_1 priv_5 function_1 priv_5 function_2 —transaction_2 priv_1 transaction_2 priv_4 transaction_3 priv_3

Now that the system 1200 has all this information, the system 1200(e.g., at 1338) reviews each user activity (e.g., based on informationfrom the knowledge base of activity 1504) and validates which privilegeswere actually checked and which are unnecessary. In other words, in atypical implementation, the system 1200 subtracts the set of checkedprivileges for a certain user from the set of privileges assigned tothat user. As result, the system identifies a new set of privileges thatare essentially unnecessary, since they were not checked by anyoperation of the user.

In one exemplary implementation, the system 1200 may expand theinformation previously in the knowledge base of activity to add anychecked privileges. This may produce the following (Table 14):

TABLE 14 User Type of Activity Object executed Checked privilege user_1Transaction transaction_1 priv_1, priv_3 user_1 Report report_1 priv_5user_2 Transaction transaction_3 priv_3 user_2 Function function_1priv_5 user_2 Function function_2 — user_3 Transaction transaction_2priv_1, priv_4

Next, the system 1200 (at 1326) creates a new set of elements: users andtheir checked privileges. This is represented in Table 15.

TABLE 15 User Checked privilege user_1 priv_1 user_1 priv_3 user_1priv_5 user_2 priv_3 user_2 priv_5 user_3 priv_1 user_3 priv_4

Next, the system 1200 (at 1328) subtracts this new set from theknowledge base of privileges to produce Table 16:

TABLE 16 User Priv Assigned By Role user_1 priv_3 role_1 user_3 priv_2role_2 user_3 priv_3 role_4

Then, the system 1200 is able to provide (e.g., on a display at acomputer-based user interface terminal) the following information(1340), which a system administrator tasked with managing privilegeswould likely find very useful:

-   -   You can safely remove the priv_3 from user_1 which is assigned        through role_1    -   You can safely remove the priv_2 from user_3 which is assigned        through role_2    -   You can safely remove the priv_3 from user_3 which is assigned        through role_4

In this scenario the system administrator, for example, can simplyremove 1330 these privilege(s) from the related role(s). However, theremay be some scenarios where that same role is assigned to a second user(or multiple users), and that user (those users) may need to maintainthe privilege. In that case, the system 1200 will warn the systemadministrator that if the privilege is removed from the role, anotheruser may be affected (and undesirably so), so it suggests to create anew role with lower privileges for the original user instead of justremoving the privilege.

It can be quite advantageous to leverage EPF technology to facilitateidentifying unnecessary privileges in a target system. This is at leastin part because the EPF technologies maps privileges and/or privilegechecks of the target computer system 1100 to user activities on thetarget system 110. In advanced business application programming (ABAP),for example, a privilege or privilege check may be represented in sourcecode, which is, therefore, readily transferred by the EPF technologyinto a node-connector style graphical representation, making it easy toidentify privileges and privilege checks and how they interact with orrelate to various user activities.

Moreover, as the system 1200 has access to user activity information,given a particular user action, it is very easy for the system 1200,leveraging EPF technology, to find paths, for example, to specificprivileges checks. And, if the system 1200 has information about all ofthe activities by end users on the target system 1100, for eachactivity, the system 1200 can map that activity to any privileges thatwere checked. From this, as discussed above, the system 1200 can easilypredict which assigned privileges were never used. This information, ifreadily available, would enable a system administrator, for example, todeactivate certain unused privileges, thereby enhancing overall systemsecurity, without significant risk of accidentally eliminating a neededprivilege.

Generally speaking, the system 1200, with the EPF technology, representsa tool that may be used over and over again over time, as users changetheir behavior, roles, and privileges. This tool can help administratorsto constantly monitor a wide role space and to avoid having to workingon huge, difficult-to-manage projects to deal with wide role spaceissues.

Automatic Detection Rules Generation Based on Vulnerabilities Primitives

Entry point finder (EPF) technology can be utilized and/or leveraged tohelp generate automatic detection rules for security vulnerabilities ata target computer system (e.g., an SAP® system). In a typicalimplementation, a detection rule essentially defines a set of conditionsthat once satisfied may result in or cause an alert being triggered. Oneexample of a detection rule, which of course could be expressed invirtually any kind of computer language, is this:

-   -   If a packet of network information contains the string        “ransomware,” then trigger an alert.

At a high level, generating this kind of detection rule generallyentails: identifying a vulnerability, analyzing that vulnerability totry to understand key things that could be used to detect anexploitation of the vulnerability, and taking those key things intoaccount when trying to write the detection rule (in an appropriatelanguage, of course). In a complex system or where the vulnerability isassociated with an object that is hidden from straightforwardobservation, this process can be daunting.

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an exemplary detection rulegenerating system 1400 that includes an entry point finder (EPF) 102 andis configured to automatically generate detection rules for one or moresecurity vulnerabilities in the target computer system 1100 based onvulnerability primitives.

Notably, in a typical implementation, the EPF 102 (and perhaps othercomponents of the detection rule generating system 1400) is run directlyon the target computer system 1100. This helps ensure that the EPF 102can be (and is) loaded up—prior to helping generate the detectionrules—with the source code that it will need to effectively perform thatfunctionality—i.e., the actual source code of the target system 1100,taking into account any customizations including any particular,special, or strange solutions, products, or versions that may have beeninstalled at the target computer system 1100.

Beyond the EPF 102, the detection rule generating system 1400 includes aknowledge base of vulnerability primitives 1402, an affected entry pointfinder 1404, a detection rules generator 1406, and a knowledge base ofdetection rules 1408. Also, in some implementations, such as theillustrated implementation, the system 102 has a missing patchesdetector 1410 (that may be provided by a third party).

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an exemplary process that may be performed byor in conjunction with the system 1400 of FIG. 14.

The illustrated process starts (at 1552) by running the EPF 102 at thetarget computer system 1100 so that the EPF will have access to (andbecome loaded with) all of the source code from the target computersystem 1100. Thus, even if the target system 1100 has been customized(e.g., with particular, special, or strange solutions, products, orversions), the EPF 102, when loaded with source code, will be properlyconfigured and adapted to provide its intended functionalities withrespect to that specific target system 1100.

Ensuring that the EPF 102, when loaded with source code, will beproperly configured and adapted to provide its intended functionalitieswith respect to that specific target system 1100 is important forseveral reasons.

First, suppose, for example, that the target system 1100 has a new SAP®solution called “SAP Integration Tool” which has a report R that callsobject A. If the EPF 102 does not have access to and does not get loadedwith the source code for this new solution, then the graphical-styledatabase of the EPF 102 will not show any relationships between report Rand object A. Moreover, report R may not even exist as a node in thegraphical-style database of the EPF 102. So, it would not be possibleutilizing the techniques disclosed herein to create a detection rule inthat case that relates to report R, object A and/or the relationshiptherebetween. Therefore a company that has installed the new solutionwon't get any protection against the evil usage of report R.

One possible solution to this issue could be using all the existing codeas input. However, this is technically impossible. Not only becausethere exist a virtually uncountable number of solutions and componentsin the universe, but also because multiple versions of solutions andcomponents exist. Even if the EPF 102 could get all this code, there arestill products that may be difficult to access from a practicalperspective because of license issues and the like. For example, onemight not have access to the code that handles the sales processes ofChinese companies and would need to buy it.

The use of custom source code is another concern. Sometimes, largercompanies, in particular, will develop their own source code, becausethey either have to or want to customize their own processes. This kindof code will never be published, therefore, a third party providing theEPF functionality would not be able to easily access those changes.

Next (at 1554), according to the illustrated implementation, the EPFextracts all of the source code (including all objects, etc.) on-demandfrom the target computer system 1100, stores the extracted source codein a search platform, finds relationships among the represented objects,and a creates a graphical-style database that represents objects asnodes and relationships between objects as connectors between the nodes.

Next (at 1556), the illustrated process includes identifyingvulnerability primitive(s) for any security vulnerabilities. Avulnerability may be considered a bug or feature of the target system1100 that exposes it to possible attack, or a flaw in the targetsystem's security. A vulnerability primitive may be considered a simplestatement or indication that a particular object, for example, isvulnerable. One example of vulnerability primitive in this regard wouldbe: “Object X is vulnerable,” where X describes or identifies thevulnerable object.

Vulnerabilities, or vulnerability primitives, can be identified to thesystem 1400 in any one of a variety of possible ways. For example, insome implementations, vulnerabilities may be identified by virtue of asystem administrator entering information about the vulnerability or byentering the vulnerability primitive into the system 1400 via acomputer-based user interface terminal. As another example, thevulnerability may be reported to the company or directly into the system1400 by a research lab, such as the research lab at the Onapsis®company, or may be identified by virtue of a release by the SAP® companyon a Monthly Patch Day for example. In some such implementations (e.g.,if the information is arriving from the research lab at the Onapsis®company, then a member of the research lab may already have completed ananalysis to identify what kinds of “key things” might be relied upon orutilized to generate a detection rule for any associated securityvulnerabilities.

In a typical implementation, the information about the vulnerabilitiesand/or the vulnerability primitives may be stored in a computer-baseddatabase, such as the knowledge base of vulnerabilities primitives 1402in FIG. 14.

Often, a vulnerability might reside in or relate to an object whoseexecution cannot readily and directly be detected by logs, networksniffing, or any other source or auditing. For purposes of discussion,let's say that object A in the target system 1400 cannot be readily anddirectly detected. It is quite common that another object (e.g., afunction F), which might be detectable, calls or uses this object A.Therefore, if the execution of function F can be detected (e.g., if itis a function performed by a user or in direct response to a useraction), then a detection rule for object A might reference detectingthe execution of function F rather than detecting execution of object A.Accordingly, in a typical implementation, one particular vulnerability(in an undetectable, or difficult to directly detect object) may warrantwriting n detection rules (where n is any number greater than zero). Aconcrete example might where multiple functions (F₁, F₂, . . . F_(n))all call the same object A.

In a typical implementation, the EPF 102 can be used or leveraged tohelp identify any relationship (or connections) between a vulnerable,but undetectable or difficult to detect, object in the target system1400 and any other related, but easier to detect, objects (e.g.,functions that call the undetectable or difficult to detect object).Referring again to FIG. 15, in this regard, the illustrated processincludes (at 1558) correlating the vulnerability primitive(s) againstinformation represented in EPF graphical-style database. In a particularimplementation, this might include utilizing the EPF and itsgraphical-style information to identify the fact that the multiplefunctions (F₁, F₂, . . . F_(n)), mentioned above, all call the sameobject A. This step (i.e., correlating the vulnerability primitive(s)against information represented in EPF graphical-style database) may beperformed, for example, either by or in association with the affectedentry point finder 1404.

Next (at 1560), the illustrated process includes generating one or moredetection rule(s) based on the results of the correlation. So, forexample, if the correlation reveals that the multiple functions (F₁, F₂,. . . F_(n)), mentioned above, all call the same object A, then thesystem 1400 may generate a vulnerability detection rule (thatcorresponds to the vulnerability primitive, “object A is vulnerable”)along the following lines:

-   -   If any one of functions (F₁, F₂, . . . F_(n)) are performed,        then trigger an alert.

In some implementations, the alert might also identify that object A hasbeen rendered vulnerable.

The foregoing techniques for automatically generating detection rulesfor security vulnerabilities, including running the EPF 102 on thetarget system itself, are advantageous for a number of reasons. Forexample, by following these techniques, a company will only have thedetection rules it needs for its target system. There won't be anyunnecessary rules (e.g., that relate to systems, products or versionsthereof not in use at the target system). Moreover, a company will haverules that relate to any company customizations, as well as any productsthat might otherwise be difficult to obtain.

As mentioned above, a vulnerability primitive may be considered a simplestatement or indication that a particular object, for example, isvulnerable. Moreover, in some implementations, a vulnerability primitivemay be considered as the raw material that facilitates the processesdisclosed herein to produce detection rule(s) for the correspondingvulnerability. In various implementations, these processes can berelatively simple or quite complex, depending on the vulnerabilityprimitive and its context with the overall target system. For example,the vulnerability primitive, “Object X is vulnerable,” may produce asingle detection rule (“if object X is executed, then do Y”), or mayproduce multiple different detections (e.g., if the execution of objectX is impossible or very difficult to directly detect), such as “if anyone of functions (F1, F2, . . . Fn) is executed, then do Y,” where thefunctions (F1, F2, . . . Fn) are related to object Y (and, therefore,represented as nodes connected to the object Y node in the EPFgraphical-style database). The complexity of a process for a particularvulnerability primitive may depend, for example, on: whether thecompany, in fact, has the corresponding object in one or more of theirsystem components, and whether this is an object that is used or widelyused by other kinds of objects in the target system.

In a typical implementation, the EPF 102 (and some or all of the othercomponents of the system 1400) may be provided to a company forinstallation directly into its target system 1400. The EPF 102 andoverall system 1400 adapts to whatever system exists where it isinstalled.

What follows is a relatively high level summary of one implementation ofthe relevant techniques for generating detection rules for securityvulnerabilities based on vulnerability primitives, followed by aspecific example of same. At a high level, this exemplary implementationincludes extraction of source code with an EPF (at theclient/company-side), shipment or transfer of knowledge base ofvulnerability primitives (VPs) (KBVPs), correlation between extractedcode and the KBVPs, detection Rule generation based on output ofcorrelation, (optionally) utilizing a 3^(rd) party missing patchesdetector, and generating a set of rules into a knowledge base ofdetection rules (KBDR).

Extraction of Source Code with EPF (Client-Side)

In a typical implementation, the extraction process will lead to anoutput that will include the graph database mentioned herein which willbe able to be queried in order to get useful information regardingrelationships among objects. Again, in a typical implementation, the EPFwill be run directly on the client side (i.e., at or as part of thetarget system itself), so that the system will be able to analyze notonly standard and well-known code but also any custom and/or exclusivelylicensed code, for example, that may be difficult to gain access to.

Shipment of “Knowledge Base of VP's” (KBVP's)

In certain implementations, each time a new vulnerability is analyzed,for example, by a research team, potentially N (any number) newvulnerability primitives (VPs) will be created. These new VPs may beadded to (and collected as part of) a knowledge base which will be latershipped to the company that owns and utilizes the target system. Eventhough, in a typical implementation, all clients (companies) may havethe same KBVP's the final set of rules may vary from company to companydepending, at least in part, on the systems installed at each company'ssystem.

Correlation Between Extracted Code and the KBVP's

In certain implementations, this part of the process combines/correlatesthe VPs saved inside the KBVP with information from the EPF graphdatabase extracted from the client's systems. As a practical example,let's imagine that we have the following KBVP:

Knowledge Base Vulnerability Primitives # 1 {“name”: “A”, “type”:“report”} # 2 {“name”: “A”, “type”: “include”} # 3 {“name”: “B”, “type”:“function”}Generally speaking, types Report and Function are directly callable,therefore they can be considered entry points. Include cannot be called.Let's also assume that object A (Report) uses A (Include). Further,let's assume that there are two clients, therefore, in a typicalimplementation, there will be two EPF graph databases.

The system will be generally charged with reading each VP, and creatinga corresponding query to the graph database in order to get all therequirements to create the rules. Let's imagine that one client hasobjects affected in VP's #1 and #2 and the other one has objectsaffected by #2 and #3.

Clients Objects installed #1 A (Report), A (Include), more #2 A(Include), B (Function), moreIn an exemplary implementation, the system, based on the VP's, willstart querying the graph database in order to get information relatedwith the affected objects. For instance, for the #2, the system mightgenerate something like:

“Return all the objects that are Entry Points that at some pointuse/call object A (include)”

-   -   The other queries will be the same or will have very small        changes        In this case, the system can ensure that both results are going        to be different. No matter how many others objects call/use A        (include), due client #2 hasn't the object A (report) it won't        appear in their result:

Clients Results of query for VP's #2 #1 A (Report), . . . #2 . . .

After executing the 3 queries, something like this will be the finaloutput:

Clients Results of query for VP's #2 #1 A (Report), . . . #2 B (Report),. . .

This means that besides other objects that can be implemented in thecompany's components, detection rule affecting A (Report) for client #2and B (Function) for client #1 won't be generated.

The output of this step will be all the necessary information to createthe rules for this vulnerable objects.

Detection Rule Generation Based on Output of Correlation

Once we have the output of which rules to generate, the system reads theoutput and generates the rule for each object on it. In someimplementations, the company will have been provided with templates ofdetection rules that will be fed by the output identifying which rulesto generate (for which vulnerable objects).

(Optional) 3^(rd) Party Missing Patches Detector

In some implementations, the system may use a missing patches detectorto reduce the number of generated detection rules. For example, a systemadministrator, for example, may think that if they have patched acertain vulnerability, it does not make sense to have a detection rulefor the vulnerability. Therefore, having the list of missing patches,the system can generate the detection rules only for those givenpatches. Otherwise, the system can generate detection rules for all thevulnerabilities, regardless if they were patched or not.

Set of Rules (KBDR)

At the end of the process, the KBDR is ready to be used. Once systemfiltered the rules generated (in an earlier step, discussed herein), thesystem (and/or the company) will be ready to deploy the detection rulesin a product (that consumes these rules) and start using them.

In some implementations, the processes disclosed herein mayadvantageously: customize detection rules per client (company), providefor the shipment of ‘raw material’ instead of full detection rules tothe company, and provide a highly accurate rules knowledge base.

A number of embodiments of the invention(s) have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

For example, in various embodiments, the subject matter disclosed hereincan be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer-basedsoftware, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed orsuggested in this specification and/or their structural equivalents,and/or in combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the subject matterdisclosed herein can be implemented in one or more computer programs,that is, one or more modules of computer program instructions, encodedon computer storage medium for execution by, or to control the operationof, one or more data processing apparatuses (e.g., processors).Alternatively, or additionally, the program instructions can be encodedon an artificially generated propagated signal, for example, amachine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal that isgenerated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus for execution by a data processing apparatus. A computerstorage medium can be, or can be included within, a computer-readablestorage device, a computer-readable storage substrate, a random orserial access memory array or device, or a combination thereof. While acomputer storage medium should not be considered to include a propagatedsignal, a computer storage medium may be a source or destination ofcomputer program instructions encoded in an artificially generatedpropagated signal. The computer storage medium can also be, or beincluded in, one or more separate physical components or media, forexample, multiple CDs, computer disks, and/or other storage devices.

Additionally, although some of the explanations provided herein weredone taking into account one SAP system at the time, in someimplementations, the EPF may be configured to process more than one SAP(or other) system at the same time. In those instances, the only thingthat will most likely need to change is the size of the list extractedby the Leader.

In various implementations, the worker modules, such as Leader,ExtractorG, Extractors, Decompressors, SOLR Uploaders/Downloaders,Analyzers, Graph preprocessors and CSVCreaetors, may be configured torun completely distributed and therefore achieve a very scalablearchitecture. Moreover, in various implementations, one or more of theworker modules may be implemented in software, hardware and/or as asoftware module being executed on a hardware platform.

The processes, functionalities and technologies disclosed herein may beapplied to other types of software systems based on other languages,such as JAVA, .NET, C, C++, Python, Perl, etc. The specific objectdefinitions may be based, in part at least, on the type of languageand/or the needs of the user. For example, high levels of abstractionscan be used to represent an entire module of an application and lowerlevels of abstraction could be used to represent specific functions,critical lines of code, or specific objects of the language, allowingthe user to find the relationships among all of them.

The database (e.g., the graph database) can be virtually any kind ofgraph database. The underlying storage mechanism of graph database canvary. Some implementations, for example, may depend on a relationalengine and store the graph data in a table. Other implementations, forexample, may use a key-value store or a document-oriented database,making them inherently NoSQL structures. In some implementations, thegraph database may be based on non-relational storage engine technologythat also includes the concept of tags or properties, which areessentially relationships lacking a pointer to another document. Thismay allow objects and/or their relationships to be categorized for easyretrieval en masse.

Retrieving data from a graph database generally requires a querylanguage other than SQL. Some possibilities in this regard might includequery languages such as Gremlin, SPARQL, and Cypher. In addition tohaving a query language interface, in some implementations, the graphdatabase may be accessed through an application programming interface(API).

All queue names, worker module names, etc. used herein are arbitrary andshould not be used, unless otherwise indicated, to restrict the scope ofthis application.

Multiple different computer-based memory storages are mentioned herein.Of course, in various implementations, there may be fewer (or more)discrete computer-based memory storages utilized to implement thefunctionalities disclosed herein. Moreover, multiple different queuesare described herein. Again, of course, in various implementations,there may be fewer (or more) discrete queues utilized to implement thefunctionalities disclosed herein. Similarly, multiple different workermodules are disclosed herein. In some implementations, of course, thefunctionalities of several worker modules may be combined into oneworker module. Alternatively, in some implementations, thefunctionalities of a single worker module may be distributed across morethan one worker module. Of course, in some implementations, additionalfunctionalities (and associated worker modules) may be added to thefunctionalities described herein. Likewise, in some implementations,some of the functionalities (and associated worker modules) may bedispensed with.

The operations described in this specification can be implemented asoperations performed by one or more data processing apparatuses (e.g.,computer-based processors) on data stored on one or morecomputer-readable storage devices or received from other sources. Theterm “processor” encompasses all kinds of, and any number of,apparatuses, devices, and machines for processing data, including by wayof example a programmable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, ormultiple ones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The apparatus caninclude special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (fieldprogrammable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit). The apparatus can also include, in addition to hardware, codethat creates an execution environment for the computer program inquestion, for example, code that constitutes processor firmware, aprotocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, across-platform runtime environment, a virtual machine, or a combinationof one or more of them. The apparatus and execution environment canrealize various different computing model infrastructures, such as webservices, distributed computing and grid computing infrastructures.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions.Certain features that are described in this specification in the contextof separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in asingle embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described inthe context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multipleembodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings and describedherein as occurring in a particular order, this should not be understoodas requiring that such operations be performed in the particular ordershown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations beperformed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances,multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, theseparation of various system components in the embodiments describedabove should not be understood as requiring such separation in allembodiments, and it should be understood that the described programcomponents and systems can generally be integrated together in a singlesoftware product or packaged into multiple software products.

Furthermore, some of the concepts disclosed herein can take the form ofa computer program product accessible from a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium providing program code for use by or inconnection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For thepurposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readablemedium can be any tangible apparatus that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The functionalities associated with the system disclosed herein can beaccessed from virtually any kind of electronic computer device,including, for example, computers of all kinds, cell phones and tablets.

The memory storage media mentioned herein can be an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system(or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of acomputer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid-state memory,magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an opticaldisk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

In a typical implementation, the EPF may include or be coupled to acomputer-based user access terminal that enables a user to access orview information about the objects and/or their respectiverelationships. In some implementations, this viewable access may includeaccess to a graphical representation of the objects and/or theirrespective relationships, similar to what is shown, for example, in FIG.9 (or similar to some portion of what is shown in FIG. 9). In variousimplementations, the underlying information (e.g., about each node andabout each relationship) may be included in the graphical presentation(e.g., with labels, color-coding, different dash-types for lines,associated textual descriptions, etc.).

The systems and techniques disclosed herein may be used with theAdvanced Business Application Programming (ABAP), but they, of course,can be expanded to any language to model its abstract structures(generally not single statements) and the behavior of the system basedon how its internal objects interact with each other.

The phrase computer-readable medium or computer-readable storage mediumis intended to include at least all mediums that are eligible for patentprotection (e.g., in the United States, under 35 U.S.C. § 101), and, insome instances, to specifically exclude all mediums that arenon-statutory in nature to the extent that the exclusion is necessaryfor a claim that includes the computer-readable (storage) medium to bevalid. Some or all of these computer-readable storage media can benon-transitory.

Other implementations are within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-based method of assessing impact of apatch on a target business-critical application computer system, themethod comprising: receiving information at a computer-based impactassessment system about end-user activities on the targetbusiness-critical application computer system over a specified period oftime; identifying, with a computer-based fixed objects identifier, oneor more software objects in the target business-critical applicationcomputer system fixed by the patch; identifying, with a computer-basedentry point finder, one or more entry points associated with the fixedsoftware object(s) at the target business-critical application computersystem; comparing the identified software objects that were fixed by thepatch with the identified entry points to identify entry points impactedby the patch during the specified period of time; cross-referencing theinformation about the end-user activities on the targetbusiness-critical application computer system against the identifiedentry points at the target business-critical application computersystem; and testing the identified entry points impacted by the patchbased on the cross-referencing with the end-user activities.
 2. Thecomputer-based method of claim 1, wherein the cross-referencing furtheridentifies which of the identified entry points have been used byend-users of the target business-critical application computer systemduring the specified time period.
 3. The computer-based method of claim1, wherein the cross-referencing identifies a list of end users that areactually using the impacted entry points and which processes the listedend users are actually involved in.
 4. The computer-based method ofclaim 1, further comprising prompting or enabling a user to specify theperiod of time via a computer-based user interface terminal.
 5. Thecomputer-based method of claim 1, wherein the information about theend-user activities may comprise information about transactions started,reports started, successful function calls, and HTTP requests through aweb browser.
 6. The computer-based method of claim 5, wherein theinformation about the transactions started, the reports started, and thesuccessful function calls may be obtained from a security audit log or abusiness transaction log for the target business-critical applicationcomputer system, and wherein the information about the HTTP requests maybe obtained from an HTTP access log for the target business-criticalapplication computer system.
 7. The computer-based method of claim 1,wherein the computer-based fixed software objects identifier accessesinformation about patches affecting the target business-criticalapplication computer system from a computer-based database coupled tothe computer-based fixed software objects identifier and/or from amissing patches detector.
 8. The computer-based method of claim 1,wherein the computer-based entry point finder comprise: a plurality ofworker modules; a plurality of queues, wherein each one of the queues iscommunicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more of the workermodules; a plurality of computer-based memory storage locations, whereineach one of the computer-based memory storage locations iscommunicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more of the workermodules; and a computer-based search platform communicatively coupled toat least one of the worker modules, the computer-based method furthercomprising: extracting, with one or more of the worker modules, aplurality of software objects from a business-critical applicationcomputer system; storing the extracted software objects in thecomputer-based search platform; finding relationships, with one or moreof the worker modules, between the extracted software objects that arestored in the computer-based search platform; and creating a databasethat represents the extracted software objects and the relationshipsbetween the extracted software objects.
 9. The computer-based method ofclaim 1, wherein the information about the fixed software objects isused as input in the entry point finder to obtain a list of entry pointsto test.
 10. A computer-based impact assessment system with anon-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein datarepresenting instructions executable by at least one processor forassessing impact of a patch on a target business-critical applicationcomputer system, the computer-based impact assessment system comprising:a user activity extractor for extracting information from the targetbusiness-critical application computer system about end-user activitieson the target business-critical application computer system over aspecified period of time; a computer-based fixed software objectsidentifier for identifying one or more software objects in the targetbusiness-critical application computer system fixed by the patch; acomputer-based entry point finder for identifying one or more entrypoints associated with the fixed software object(s) at the targetbusiness-critical application system; and the instructions in thecomputer readable medium configured for: comparing the identifiedsoftware objects that were fixed by the patch with the identified entrypoints to identify entry points impacted by the patch during thespecified period of time; cross-referencing the information about theend-user activities on the target business-critical application systemagainst the identified entry points at the target business-criticalapplication system; and testing the identified entry points impacted bythe patch based on the cross-referencing with the end-user activities.11. The computer-based impact assessment system of claim 10, wherein thecross-referencing further identifies which of the identified entrypoints associated with the fixed software object(s) also have been usedby end-users of the target business-critical application system duringthe specified time period.
 12. The computer-based impact assessmentsystem of claim 10, wherein the cross-referencing identifies a list ofend users that are actually using the impacted entry points and whichprocesses the listed end users are actually involved in.
 13. Thecomputer-based impact assessment system of claim 10, further comprisinga computer-based user interface terminal with a display for prompting orenabling a user to specify the period of time.
 14. The computer-basedimpact assessment system of claim 10, wherein the information about theend-user activities may comprise information about transactions started,reports started, successful function calls, and HTTP requests through aweb browser.
 15. The computer-based impact assessment system of claim14, wherein the information about the transactions started, the reportsstarted, and the successful function calls may be obtained from asecurity audit log or a business transaction log for the targetbusiness-critical application system, and wherein the information aboutthe HTTP requests may be obtained from an HTTP access log for the targetbusiness-critical application system.
 16. The computer-based impactassessment system of claim 10, wherein the computer-based fixed objectsidentifier accesses information about patches affecting the targetbusiness-critical application system from a computer-based databasecoupled to the computer-based fixed objects identifier and/or from amissing patches detector.
 17. The computer-based impact assessmentsystem of claim 10, whether the computer-based entry point findercomprises: a plurality of worker modules; a plurality of queues, whereineach one of the queues is communicatively coupled to a corresponding oneor more of the worker modules; a plurality of computer-based memorystorage locations, wherein each one of the computer-based memory storagelocations is communicatively coupled to a corresponding one or more ofthe worker modules; and a computer-based search platform communicativelycoupled to at least one of the worker modules, and wherein thecomputer-based entry point finder is configured to: extract, with one ormore of the worker modules, a plurality of software objects from abusiness-critical application computer system; store the extractedsoftware objects in the computer-based search platform; findrelationships, with one or more of the worker modules, between theextracted software objects that are stored in the computer-based searchplatform; and create a database that represents the extracted objectsand the relationships between the extracted software objects.
 18. Thecomputer-based impact assessment system of claim 16, wherein thesoftware objects are or represent elements of the business-criticalapplication computer system whose graphical representation as nodesconnected to one another based on relationships, functional orotherwise, between the corresponding elements, and wherein eachrespective one of the elements of the business-critical applicationcomputer system is a unique piece of code, a file, a data string, orother aspect of the business-critical application computer system. 19.The computer-based impact assessment system of 10, wherein theinformation about the fixed software objects is used as input in theentry point finder to obtain a list of entry points to test.